Reflecting deeply

Readings for Sunday 2nd August 2009, Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) 2 Sam 11:26-12.13; Psalm 51:1-12; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35 Choose a reading to reflect on for this week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• so pray a bit more

1. Try to spend a little time each day being quiet and listening to God


2. Read a short piece of the Bible and listen to what it is saying to say you


3. Have two or three people who you specially pray for each day
   

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

• so care a bit more

1. We probably don't have to look far to find someone we can care for.
   


2. This caring need not be onerous but should begin to expand our comfort zone


3. Let it be a quiet unassuming work...let not the right hand know what the left hand is doing
   

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

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

Sex food and prayer!!!

Readings for Sunday 26th July 2009 (8th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 17) 2 Sam 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
Sex, food and prayer
The title for this week may surprise some! But these are themes from these readings.
Though they don't neatly 'click' together, they speak of some really fundamental things that drive us.
David who we continue to read about, is at once both heroic and flawed
It was ever so!
Here we read about how the successful King
successful because he has been responsive to God's promise
can still get it wrong.
He commits adultery and fathers a child.
More than this, he weaves a web of intrigue and deceit
ultimately climaxing in the murder of the innocent man he has wronged.
For this he will come to know God's wrath
and he will live with this serious failure for the rest of his life.

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

Paul's prayer this week is for his fellow Christians that they may freely acknowledge God's love and greatness
It is a mystery which lies outside our understanding
and is part of of our growth and learning as humans.
David's fault, like us so often,
is that when things are going well
we can easily be seduced into thinking it is we who are responsble.
And we can act as if we are God
and give ourselves permission to do anything.
Even sin.
This requires some subtlety and care
issues are not always, indeed never,
Black and white
and so Paul's prayer

"that (we) may have the
power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so
that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God"

is a good and necessary prayer for caution and humility.

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

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

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

What God requires of us...and what we need to do!

Reflections for the week beginning Sunday 19th July (Proper 16) 2 Sam 7:1-14; Psalm 89:21-38; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Read one or more of these readings when you wish to be quiet with God.

(This is probably three-in-one sermons)

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

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

What does the Lord require?
There is no doubt that David was responsive to God's will, but as we read his story
we also discover that he is sometimes willful and disobedient.

We are all rather like this.
While we may seek to be God's people and to do his will
our understanding of what that will might be is often slippery.
I, for example, sometimes say that my problem with hearing the voice of God
is that I need to be clear when I am hearing God's voice
and when I am hearing Stephen's voice!

I am more than occasionally capable of deceiving myself.

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

that we are always open and upfront about them

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

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

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

Lest we forget and think that we are the Messiah.
Lest we find our ourselves
building in the wrong place.
Lest we find that our necessary needs are
crowded out.

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

God who has blessed us

Reflections for the week beginning Sunday 12th July 2009 (Proper 15) 2 Sam 6:1-19; Psalm 24;Eph 1:1-14; Mark 6:14-29 One or more of these readings can be read each time you wish to be quiet with God.

This week we think about the ups and downs of life. We read about the Execution of John the Baptist,(Mark 6) and in the Old Testament (2 Sam 6) about a man who dies seemingly while trying to do the right thing.
What we easily realize is that our lives our like this. There are things which happen which deeply shake us, and "natural causes" to which we are subject which seem deeply unfair.
The innocent die, get sick and suffer.
The funeral service reminds us "In the midst of life we are in death".
Something I am often struck by when taking a funeral and ministering to the bereaved.
Life is like that.
Amidst all this Paul writes for us an amazingly evocative poem about the depth of our relationship with God.
These poems often draw out of us feelings of deep praise and thankfulness
In Christ we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time,
to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
though at times of stark difficulty and tragedy
poetic words can often leave us cold.
We are reminded of the need to dwell richly with God
in the reality of our day to day experiences.
Take a few moments this week
to locate the points in the last few days
where you have been most deeply affected...positively or negatively
What might this be saying to us?
How might God be asking us to respond,
and what is God offering to us?
Listen to what God is saying,
and ask him to show you how you should respond today.
Pray quietly for openness to the Spirit of God and the will to do what God needs you to do.

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

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

What do you make of the Gospel?

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

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




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


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

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

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


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

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

Courage to trust

Readings for Pentecost 4 (Proper 13) Today; Sunday 28th June include: 2 Samuel 1:1,17-27;Psalm 130;2 Corinthians 8:7-15; & Mark 5:21-43 (This week's reflection was also discussed during Lent)

The Gospel passage is not without its difficulties

Two accounts of people being healed. We often get sidetracked by the fact that the woman with "the issue of blood" as the KJV euphemistically put it is ritually unclean .

I think this was probably the least of her worries!

In different ways people come to Jesus seeking healing. Jairus comes as a man of prestige and religious standing seeking help from someone who is not socially acceptable 

Jesus! 

The woman, I think,is a destroyed person whose sense of personal worth is so low that she cannot even come and front Jesus face on. 

Part of the message that Mark is communicating here is that it doesn't matter who you are 

that Jesus is open to all. More than this, because he is inviting people to respond out of faith 

we recognise that faith requires risk 

Jairus risks his reputation the woman risks being knocked back again. 

What do we risk to be challenged by the Gospel, 

or have we so controlled our experience that we have taken all the risk and challenge out of it.  

Faith will inevitably invite us to move out of the zone where we control everything 

(because we recognise in reality that nothing is actually ours to control) THIS WEEK 

Where does God invite me to trust him and him alone? 

Do I have the courage to do it? 

To risk my reputation/failure or what ever? 

Pray to trust God alone

Awaking the sleeping Jesus

Readings for today, Sunday 21st June 2009...The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12) 1 Sam 17:1-49  (David and  Goliath), and/or  1 Sam 17:57-18:5, 10-16; Psalm 133;  2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Mark 4:35-41

I always think when I read this story in Mark  4 of Jesus calming the storm
that my life almost always feels like a boat that is about to be swamped!
It is an image the Mark uses deliberately, I think, to speak to us about the nature of our lives.
The feeling of being swamped is ever with us.
What this story reminds us of too
is that Jesus is also always with us
This is his post-resurrection promise
-I will be with you always-
but we treat him as though he is asleep
it's often more convenient for us that way!!

The gist of the story is straightforward
we awake the sleeping Jesus and he can deal with the situation,
but there is more here than that.
He actually rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith.
Is he telling them here
that they should trust their own faith?
like David or like Paul,
and not simply drop their bundle and say ...Here you sort it all out!
This is often the way we treat God.
Let him sleep until we get into trouble!
then wake him up and drop the problem in his lap.
The rebuke that Jesus utters is about God expecting more of us than this.

We are to be people of faith
and to use that faith
....do not let God's grace be in vain...
but rather act out a life of faith.
It is Jesus's promise to us
not that he will make all our problems disappear
but rather that we will be able to live our life in God's power
to do what God wants us to do
and to be faithful.
So it's not that Jesus can't meet our needs
it's that we also need to recognise that our needs can be met
by what God has given to us.
God does not expect us to allow ourselves to be overpowered by his majesty
but rather to cooperate with him.
This is what David did
this is what Paul did.
It is the way that Jesus shows us.

Conclusion
I hope that we see that these stories move us on.
From a dependent immature faith
to one that acts powerfully in accord with God's will.
Our brashness, like David's needs to be tested
we should not just presume on God's mercy.
But let's not waste what God has laready done for us.
Anbd being conscious of Jesus ever with us
we also are called to act as he acts.
This is powerful and important stuff that we are called to. Let this be the character of your life.

The principle readings for this 14th June 2009 the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost are I Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalm 20; II Cor 5:6-10; 14-17  Mark 4:26-34

Although it would be easy to think that ‘applying the Gospel’ is just common sense; we are reminded this week that we do not always see things in the way that God sees them
God looks on each human being with love and affirmation
there is nothing about me or you that God 

     does not,
     cannot
     and will not love

BUT
that does not mean that God validates everything we do
in fact we are rather told that it is the other way around
We need to try and see as God sees
rather than to bludgeon God
into seeing things the way we do.
Perhaps our prayer
and spiritual effort
is better spent
trying to hear what God is inviting us to be and do
than in trying
to manipulate God
to do what we want.
St Paul says of this journey
we are called to walk by faith
That is to discern God’s will for us and to do that.
A little sign of this is given when Samuel is discerning who will succeed Saul as king, and he is reminded that so often we look at fairly arbitrary human characteristics
Popularity, success, physical stature
even age and experience
(this is the way of the world)
but Samuel is reminded to look at the heart.
Jesus uses the image of the seed
growing secretly and surprisingly
to remind us that it is
God who guides growth
and development.
and fruitfulness is often surprising
and different from what we expect

THIS WEEK
As we prepare for parish planning
can we pray for openness to God’s purpose
Pray for insight to see
where we are trying to manipulate God
instead of being open to the Spirit.

Lord of the hearts

fill me with your love 

this and every day

that I may be open 

and ready to respond to your gracious spirit

and that I may be fruitful

Readings for Trinity Sunday, 7th June 2009 can include Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:12-17;John 3:1-17;Psalm 29

Perhaps the most ‘doctrinal’ Sunday of the year we celebrate the Christian mystery that God is Trinity.
But we misunderstand Trinity if we think it is highly theoretical or speculative.
At the core of the Trinity is the idea that our God is the God with whom we are in relationship.
The language, Father Son and Spirit
is the language of close relationships like a parent and a child
like those with a deep spiritual connection
it is not impersonal or abstract

So this week
Take a little time to nurture your personal relationship.
Listening and talking is the way to do this

The second dimension that we encounter today
is that each member of the Trinity is there as an agent of Love.
The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, the Spirit is there to enable the love to deepen and grow.
This relationship or rather these relationships
are there to serve each other.
This is the nature of the Godhead
the mystery oif the Trinity
each person is there for the welfare of others
The Father loves the world so much
that he gives his Son
the Son loves the world so much
that he gives his life
the Spirit so loves us that we are filled with love for the Father and the Son.
The idea of Trinity
is that we are fulfilled in community
in so far as we give our life for others.

When Isaiah get his glimmer of God’s glory
he is reacting as Godly people have done throughout the generations
“How,” we ask “are others to hear about God?”
“Who will speak? Who will tell?”
The answer is that Trinity life...God-life is about living for others
“Here am I send me!”
the challenge

THIS WEEK
Where does God call me to live my life for others?
Is there someone who I am called specially to be here for this week?

As part of my call to be a worshipper of the Holy Trinity God I commit myself to this in this coming week.

Life in the Spirit

Readings can include Acts 2:1-21; Ezekiel 37:1-14;Psalm 104:24-34, 35b;Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Although it is difficult to pick any of the events of the Easter mystery as the pinnacle or climax
in a real sense Pentecost is of great significance because it prepares us for our life as Christians
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful and expectant disciples
is the gift of the Father to live the life that Jesus, the Word of God calls us to live.

The readings talk of many things:

    Renewal

    life being breathed into what looks as though it is dead

    Truth

    Peace 

    Joy 

And each of these deserves its own individual treatment.

Indeed this demonstrates to us that the Holy Spirit is not a quick fix...but is about God dealing with us comprehensively and completely.

Why would we expect anything else?

This is about the whole of our life and the whole of the world.

Indeed a prayer we often pray is 

Come Holy Sprit and renew your whole creation

So often we seem to think that God is just dealing with my little patch

It is about "the whole creation"

It is also about God dealing with us deeply

and not just tinkering in a titillating or superficial way.

This JOY that the Spirit brings is not merely an amusement or an entertainment it is about the absolute delight and sense of privilege that we know in being caught up iun the mystery of what God has been doing since before the foundation of the world.

It is perhaps the surest sign of the Spirit’s activity in our lives.

Where do you experience the deepest joy in your life?

It is a challenging question.

So often we mistake amusement for joy

yet often joy is about difficult stuff

about working through the challenging issues of life

and realising that although we are often confronted with danger, struggle, weakness

that the Joy that the Spirit brings transforms our life

This week

●Where has God given you the greatest JOY

●How can I nurture this

●What is God inviting me to be, know and do, by this active power and presence of the Spirit?

Moving on in faith

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

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

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

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

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

This is what is going on

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

May this be ours too

This week

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

..

What ever we want!

Readings for Sunday May 17th, the 6th Sunday of Easter  Acts 10:44-48;  Psalm 98;, 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17

St John in the section of the first letter that we read today

reminds us that we come to understand 

what life is about

and how things fall into place

by faith.

This is the victory that conquers the world,

our faith.

This is a seemingly innocent, even predictable, statement

which we may gloss over.

But it is also in a real sense the key.

We proceed to live life in a different way because of faith.

This is about a decision that we make to choose to live life in a deeper

more authentic way.

John hammers home Jesus’s bold assertion that everything flows out of the reality that God loves us.

It is not the declaration of rules and laws, but the reality of a commitment to live life in a radical and deep way

(Perhaps what Scott Peck called the “Road Less Travelled”)

So we are confronted again by the challenge to go out and bear fruit

and we hear the promise

that this fruitfulness will be undergirded by God’s provision of whatever we ask for 

and need to be fruitful.

Notice (as last week) this is not 

wish-fulfilment (the new bike syndrome)

this is purpose-driven   

God makes provision 

out of his love

for everything we need

to live the kingdom life

which brings us the promise of abundance

—–let’s not play games with God

thinking he is a slot-machine

—–we are trying to live the life of faith

so we are likely to need to pray for:

—–forgiveness, love, reconciliation, patience, generosity

much more important than 

a new bike, or even wealth

Abundant, eternal life

will in the end seek to draw out of us

a life of faith 

This is the victory that conquers the world...our faith

THIS WEEK

What do we want  and need  to live a life of faith?

What is to stop us asking for it?

Fruit of the vine

Readings for today, Easter 5, May 10th 2009 , can be taken from Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22: 26-32, 

1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8

South Australians in particular appreciate this image of the vine that Jesus uses in John 15

It is a sumptuous and engaging image

and bears much thinking about, with reflection and prayer.

God wants us to be fruitful

he wants us not to have meagre lives

but abundant lives.

Some times we need to understand that fruitfulness comes about by a process of pruning

that is by cutting back

by curtailing ourselves

This process is for long-term fruitfulness

even though in the short term 

it may limit or even seem like it hurts

The passage from 1John reminds us that God’s sole motivation is  love for us

We are not the puppets of a dictator

we are the lovers of a God

who wants only our welfare.

DEEPER RATHER THAN SHALLOWER

All this prompts us to think that what is being suggested here

is deeper rather than shallower.

It is long-term transformation

rather than short- term titillation.

So when we read (as we do twice in this chapter) 

“ask what ever you wish and it will be done for you” 

we should realise that this is more than just wish-fulfillment.

God is seeking to respond to our deepest need.

I suspect that our deepest need is not to have more stuff or money

It is about attending to our need to be loved

and to love

In the end ...this will always be what we want.

However we name it, even if we have to begin with 

               “But I really want a new car!”

God is offering more than just to be Fr Christmas.

We know this because of John’s assertion over and over again

               God loves me! God loves you! God loves us!

So much so that he is prepared to confront death for us.

There is more being offered here than a new bike, a big house or a pile of cash.

THIS WEEK

Can you sit with the question...what do I really want?

Can we wrestle about that with God? (Why do I want more? Why do I need trouble to disappear)

What, God, are you offering?

Probably much more than we think!

Being a Good Shepherd

Readings for today, Easter 4, May 3rd 2009 , can be taken from Acts 4:5-12, Psalm 23 APBA p 243, 1 John 3:16-24, John 10:11-18

This comforting idea of The Good Shepherd

has appealed to countless generations of people.

Even those of us who don’t have a rural bone in our bodies

find it strangely comforting.

St John tells us that the difference between a Good Shepherd and the hired help

is that the good shepherd puts his life on the line for the sheep.

And we know Jesus’s care for us

in that he laid down his life for us.

And the moral point is (John tells us) 

that seeing how the Good Shepherd lay down his life

We ought to lay down our lives for one another

The Character of our relationships 

Is this how our relationships are characterised?

By the fact that we put our lives out there for those we love.

We don’t always get this right.

When we marry for example

we can make the mistake of thinking that our spouse is there to fulfil us.

The Good Shepherd idea would be that it is rather the other way around

We are there to see that our spouse is fulfilled

our life is at the service of those who we are called to love.

Not a recipe for being exploited

(indeed there should be a mutuality about this...it should go both ways)

THIS WEEK

we could give some constructive thought to where 

the Spirit invites us to ‘lay down our life’.

Is there someone whose life is our to care for?

How do we serve the other?

Interesting probably to think about those who we feel we don’t want to serve. What might that be telling us

The Good Shepherd is a challenge not just to a comforting image

but to a genuine disposition of our life.

The Good Shepherd lays down their life?

and 

Jesus, let me not a hired hand

show me 

how to truly care for others

as you do

that I may truly 

lay down my life

Open to the possibility

Readings for Easter 3, 26th April Acts 3:12-20, 1 John 2:15-17, 3:1-6; Luke 24:36-48

There are perhaps two ways we can approach the resurrection stories:
One extreme is that we see them as symbolical narratives of great spiritual truth,
that way we don’t have to worry about whether the nature of the events is factual
we take them for their symbolical value
The other is that we just take at face value what we have always been told
and again, don’t think much about what we are encountering.
Last week’s Gospel reminds us that we should do more than just park our brains
We have to grapple with inconsistency and doubt.
Luke, though, is at pains to point out
the physical truth of the experience.
This passage we read tells us
This is not a ghost!
This is a fleshly body. you can touch,
which consumes food.
It is the resurrected body of Jesus.
THE MIDDLE WAY

Death inevitably confuses us. This death no less than others has its degree of confusion
We ourselves are invited to steer the middle way and to try to understand
what it is about
We see Peter for example, and the other disciples having to grapple likewise
as they come to understand
that the death of Jesus has fundamentally changed their lives
Death does that.
We are not to look at it only symbolically or to disregard our doubts
but rather to struggle with what it means to believe.
Peter gets to the conclusion
that this resurrection has made the
power of Jesus
available through his disciples
and not just through the body of Jesus.

We are invited in Easter to grapple with the life of Jesus.

How and why is Jesus alive for you and me?
And what are we to do with that.

This week:
Pray for insight and faith to believe aright
Pray for faith to grow in the resurrection
Pray for courage and insight about how to use that power

Lord of Easter,

show me your living presence this and every day.
Grant me grace to know how to live

in the power of your resurrection

O ye of little faith!

Readings for this Sunday, Easter 2, 19th April 2009 Acts 4:32-37, 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31

We would and do expect the accounts of the Resurrection experiences to be important parts fo the scriptural story.
They, after all. speak of what is at the heart of the Christian Gospel



that Jesus who once was dead
was encountered alive by the first disciples.
The stories are not straight forward
they are of course
sailing in uncharted waters.

We could make a couple of observations from todays readings:

ACTS: what ever else we see
the early church understood that things had changed
and there was a tremendous boost of energy
when Jesus was encountered alive
POINT: if we are wanting to focus our energies
then we look not to the empty tomb
but to the presence of the risen Christ
in our midst.

1JOHN: This is about seeing things as they are
God is light, and lights dispels darkness
We also need to be up front about where
we get things wrong
If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves
But that is not the end
because God who faithful will and can forgive sins
and bring us into relationship with Jesus
POINT: This changes and deepens our relationship with God
and is an invitation to live with a new freedom

JOHN 20
We should expect Jesus to bring peace
in our relationships
and in our lives
And we also need to take this seriously
the story of Thomas
reminds us
that we are not required to park our brains
or arbitrarily dismiss our doubts
but rather that
in struggling with doubt
and inviting Jesus to deal with us realistically
we can move to a deeper and profounder encounter with God.


THIS WEEK

• Where is God inviting and challenging you to respond at this time?


• Where do you need peace? Where do you need light? Where do you grapple with doubt?


• None of this need be negative: rather it is the opportrunity to be a deeper person, more deeply committed and energised by the Holy Spirit of God

Celebrating Baptism at Easter

Easter Day, April 12th 2009. In our readings we particularly think about Mark 16:1-8 today
It’s always a great privilege
and very insightful thing to be able to baptise someone at Easter.
Easter is about new life and new beginnings
and baptism really invites us to adopt a lifestyle that is about Easter.
We affirm as we see Jesus
who once was dead, being declared to be alive
in a new sort of way
that this is the sort of character we want to live our life with.
We believe as Christians that this can only happen through faith in Jesus.
And so Jack and Catherine bring their daughter Marianne
to make that commitment on her behalf today.
She will need to learn how to practice this faith
and so Jack and Catherine, supported by Matthew and Wendy,
also promise to teach her by example
what it means
This is how children learn
by example.
But we are all given a clue
about the practice
by promising
three specific things
which remind us not only what children need to have explained to them
but also what we as Christians are called to reaffirm at this Easter time.
REPENT of your sins
This means that we need to stop doing the stuff that destroys us and others
Seek forgiveness and be forgiving.
REJECT SELFISHNESS in a world that is obsessed with ourselves
and what we can acquire
we reject the idea that people
achieve their full humanity by selfishness
RENOUNCE EVIL there is also bigger picture stuff
where we are seduced by ideas that people are disposable
or that we can exploit people as if they were to be bought and sold.

This is serious stuff
for Marianne.
We pray that Jack and Catherine will continue to do this.

And for each of us.
We renew our personal commitment
Don’t leave Church without it!!

Christus resurrexit! Don't be alarmed

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

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

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

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

A present far too small

Reflection for Good Friday, April 10 2009. Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

The great hymn of Isaac Watts often sung on Good Friday, When I survey the wondrous cross says in its final verse

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

I am often struck how some "religiously correct" versions change the original word
present to the more religiously correct word
offering
The two words don't mean the same thing, do they?
An offering is something that is required of us
it is our duty, our reponsibility
A present is an expression of love
and is given rather than exacted as a tribute.

Watts, I suspect, deliberately used the word present
and we should not use the word "offering" any more.

What this points us to
is that the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ
is not a remote religious tale
it is about the way we live our life.
It is in the world of 'presents' rather than 'offerings'

It is about how we live outside church
not inside
It is about present rather than offering

So Watts continues not with religious sentiment
but rather with the total commitment of life

love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all

thus all the things we know about Good Friday
and all the challenge that it extends to you and me
is not about what we do here
in this holy building
it is about what we do at work.
The forgiveness that we seek
is about the sins we have committed in our job.
It is about how we live in our families.
The amazing love that we are called to exercise
is to our wives and husbands, our sons and daughters,
our brothers and sisters.

Being religious is a good way of distancing ourselves
from the realities of our life.
It is an offerng rather than a present.

This year, let us go beyond that narrow formal duty...the offering
and instead be a present to God
committed in our life, where we are, where we live.

Love, so amazing so divine, demands nothing less.

The New Commandment

Reflections for Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2009 See: Exod 12:1-4, (5-10) 11-14; Psalm 116, 1 Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31-35

Things come together on this day.
in the liturgy for this evening
we perform ritual washing as a reminder to be a servant,
and we celebrate with care the Holy Eucharist
remembering that this was the night when Jesus gave it to his disciples.
We then reserve some of the sacrament as a sign of the presence of Christ
and remove the ornaments from the church.
This is a symbolical reenactment of Jesus being taken out into the garden of Gethsemane, where he is ultimately arrested, stripped and beaten.
Things come together in the Eucharist.

The Command
We don't often think of it like this but the Eucharist (The Lord's Supper, the Mass...or however you call it) is a command
{This is where the word Maundy comes from...the Latin "mandatum" meaning a command.... we still use words like mandate and mandatory which have the same root}
Jesus tells us to break bread and drink wine, and remember him. We are to do this when we get together
And so Christians have done this for 2000 years.
Our experience is that as we fulfill Jesus' s command
so we experience Jesus amongst us.
The early Christians coined this phrase:
The disciples knew Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
As we fulfill the command we experience Jesus.

Tonight, we also read of another command
"Love one another as I have loved you."
And as Jesus says this he washes his disciple's feet.
When Peter protests he is told that this is the way we experience the fulness of life.
and Peter (over the top as ever) says: then wash me completely.
Jesus's command is that we should do what he has done
that we should serve others.

We are meant to make the connection between the two commands.
Eucharist is not just about ritual observance
it is about how we live our life.
Worship services are not what we are on about
they are rather an expression
of how we are called to live our life.
They are not the end in itself.

Our obedience to Chris't command to share the Eucharist
also commits us to obedience to service.

As Jesus goes out into the darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane
we are reminded that his call to follow him
will not be without its uncertainty and danger.
But in the end
we who know the truth of Christ
understand this invitation
to be a command that we embrace.
Each time we share the eucharist we are always
called to remember that we also called to serve

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.’"