In need of forgiveness

Proper6 Sunday 17th June 2007

Luke 7:36-8:3

7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

7:37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

7:38 She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.

7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner."

7:40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "Speak."

7:41 "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

7:42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?"

7:43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."

7:44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.

7:46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

7:48 Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

7:49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

7:50 And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

8:1 Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,

8:2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

8:3 and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

We, each of us, are capable of consciously or unconsciously
doing some awful things.
When we act out of rage, or impatience, or frustration
or just sheer badness
we potentially separate ourselves from God and other people.

We invest an awful lot of energy in either pretending this isn't so
or that things are some how otherwise.
This process begs the question about how conscious we are
or can be of such behaviour.

But we see a number of times in the Gospels
people who actually become aware
of their own unconscious behaviour
and seek to change.
They come to Jesus and he opens up to them (us!)
to enable this process to happen.

This story shows us that this process
is not reserved for the pious
or the intelligent
and certainly not for the good
But rather for the one's who realise they need to repent.
They become conscious and start to live differently.

What is also interesting in this particular story
is that Jesus does not see the righteous or the religious
as being particularly welcoming of this process.
Quite the reverse.
Religion often seems to decrease the likelihood that people will be able to see the need for this.

This is exposed by judgmentalism.
When we all to readily see the faults of others
but fail to see that
we are just like too.

THIS WEEK
Where is God inviting me to be conscious of what is happening in my life?
Where does my own judgmentalism of others exposed my own need to repent?
Pray for consciousness of Christ living with and in me, for grace to repent, and for courage to be non-judgmental

In the midst of life

Sunday June 10 2007(Proper 5)

Luke 7:11-17

7:11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.

7:12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.

7:13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep."

7:14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!"

7:15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

7:16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!"

7:17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

Any story in which a dead person comes back to life is going to present the modern Christian with some difficulties

Such stories do not sit easily with us.

Though I have had at least one occasion in which a dead person was indeed found to be alive some hours after they had been declared to be dead.

That experience (and a whole range of other experiences) lead me to believe that we often try to be more definite about death

than death actually allows us to be.

In recent weeks, for example, my aunt who was "given 24 hours to live"

rallied and was quite lucid for a few days.

It is not therefore terribly surprising to find in ancient times that
there was one occasion, at least, where a person who had "died" was found to be alive.

We do not have to "explain this story away", my point is that death is not an easily definable phenomenon

and the point of this story is that things are different when Jesus is there with us

This is the steadfast experience of those who die

that the presence of the Risen Jesus makes a difference to the way we encounter death.

For a woman with an only son,

the consoling power of the Spirit of Jesus

can be not only comforting

but also transforming and healing.

Your experience of death
What is is your most recent experience of death?
Where is God in this, and what might God be saying and doing in your life?
Pray for comfort and encouragement for those who grieve, and for healing and wholeness for ourselves as we look for meaning in the face of death.

Holy! Holy! Holy!

Trinity Sunday June 3rd 2007

John 16:12-15

16:12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

16:14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

16:15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

It is sometimes said that according to Genesis "God created man in his own image and then humanity duly repaid the compliment by making God in humanity's image"
There is more than a grain of truth in this!

Archbishop William Temple suggested that we need a doctrine of the Holy Trinity-that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit-
because otherwise our doctrine of God would be too small.
At its very crudest our God is idolatrously small
when we make an image and call it God.
But that "image" can be an idea, or a philosophy
or a conception (eg....that God is simply a powerful example of a superman)
and is deceptively simplistic.
Even our ideas of Jesus can get fundamentally distorted.
We often seem to talk as if Jesus is only a pretend human
that he just seems human, but is really God disguised.
Or that he is pretend God,
he is really just a man who gets as close to being godly as you can.
Both of these ideas are false,
they do not agree with what Jesus says about himself
or with what the Scriptures say.

We need to take care that we are not just fitting God into our own little box
and making God what we want God to be
rather than seeking to encounter God as God really is.

There would seem to be little point in doing anything less.

This week reflect on:
What do I think of God? What is my experience of God? Do the two match up?
In what ways is my idea of God too small?
Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding of God

The Spirit of Jesus

The Feast of Pentecost May 27th 2007

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

14:8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

14:12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

14:13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14:14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

We are not very good at accurately stating the way Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate to each other
And it is fraught with doctrinal minefields.
But we can note a couple of things.
First it is about relationship
Although it would be innacurate to say that God is only Father, Son and/or Holy Spirit
These words do highlight that we use the language of relating to talk about God, and not just the language of function.
If we are to understand what God is like, then he is like a Father, he is like a Son.
This language is rich and powerful and meets us more than half way in understanding.
But it is not the only language.
We also use the word Spirit...when we talk about the Spirit of a relationship
or understanding the Spirit of an idea, person or thing;
this also meets us half way.
It is about what is at the core.
What is important, what is essential.

We could (and should) also note that God is not just these things.
There is, for example, and in particular a whole stream of feminine imagery
Mother, Wisdom, Birthgiver
which is used in the Bible
to help us understand what God is like.
These are also relational words.

Our God is a God who relates.

Perhaps we are best helped to undersdtand this the title that is sometimes given
the God's Holy Spirit in the New Testament:
where the Spirit is referred to as
The Spirit of Jesus.

We will encounter this Spirit
in the person of Jesus himself
as we exercise the gifts that God gives us
as we encounter Christ in the community of the Body of Christ.
The Spirit enables us to discern Christ in the lives of others,
Jesus himself points out that when we see in the poor and weak
those who should be served we are encountering Christ himself.

Like a relationship this is not just a static one-off experience
but rather a grwoing emerging encounter.

The Spirit draws us into this relationship
in order that we may encounter the risen Christ
in our lives
in others
in the world and in the Church

This week

Where do I see Christ in my life today?
What is the Spirit inviting me to understand about God
through the relationships in which I see Christ?
Pray for renewal in my life through these dynamic encounters with God.

May we be one

Sunday May 20th 2007

John 17:20-26

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

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

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

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

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

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

17:26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

I sometimes think John 17 goes round and round in circles
and states, restates and then does it again
the simple idea.

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

We have equivalent phrases in modern parlance
we talk about being 'together' or 'being made whole'
or about 'holistic healing', 'self realisation',
or in more recent times 'finding your voice'

This important chapter speaks thus of the high destiny
that each human being has.
It is to find that we are indeed
created in the image of God
and that that image is deep within each one of us.

It is not that we are God.
It is rather that we are like God
and that our Godliness will shine through
if we let it.

Jesus is ever praying for us that we may be open to this.
The Holy Spirit is ever working so that our Godliness will be realised.
We sell ourselves short if we understand anything less than God understands
as being our destiny and self relisation.

But what does it mean?
This Easter season shows us that this 'togetherness', this 'unity'
this 'ultimate destiny'
is realised only in so far as we live our lives as Christ lives.
The key is that we LIVE
not that we are given a perfect box
which we open and reveal it.
As we look to Jesus
we understand that he is not principally a doctrinal revelation
That is he is not a text book.
He is a life lived.

The invitation is not to understand the text
so that when we are examined on it we can get 100%
The invitation is to put into practice in our own lives
what we see being enfleshed in the life of Christ.

It will be lived at the service of others
a life of love and forgiveness
of openness to suffering
and not avoiding the darkness which is death.

An invitation
Where is Christ drawing me to be more like him?
Where do I experience "togetherness" in my life, in the world?
What might God be seeking me to be and do in order to consolidate that?

Arrival and departure

Post for Sunday 13th May 2007

John 14:23-29

14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Life is full of arriving and departing
(we are in the middle of this now ....possible posts here)
But it is more than just getting on and off trains and planes
Every day we come and we go,
and others do the same in our lives.
Some of these are bigger experiences than others
I was saying to my sister only recently
how I had been feeling the death of our mother
(over five years ago....how can it be?)
These departures are perhaps more significant
and laden with the opportunity
to understand more about life and love.
Equally well, babies are born,
new relationships are formed
and so the coming and going fills our life

So it was for the disciples of Jesus.
He went from them.
And like our lives we realise that as sad as it is
when someone goes, or circumstances change
there is also a necessity about it.
It causes us to grow and mature.
What might Jesus have been drawing out of his disciples

that required him to go away.
there are a number of things:

• We only realise when we are independent what we can do of our own accord
• The disciples (us) were pretty pathetic when it came to over-relying on Jesus
• This has a tendency to make us inactive and lazy

In a way, this analysis is too simplistic, because Jesus also points us to a "life in the Spirit" which is more than just object lessons on how to be independent.
This is an important dimension of the promise of life in Christ
which is not realised simply by overcoming our natural indolence.


For thought and prayer this week

How is God calling me to be open to the Holy Spirit?
Spend some time praying for the increase in God's Spirit in my life

Two types of love

Post for Sunday 6th May: John 10:22-30

John 13:31-35

13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Anyone who has studied another language knows that words don't translate uniformly.
We had an experience in Indonesia recently of wanting to work out how to ask for a milk shake to be "thicker".
My wife asked the taxi driver "What is the word for 'thick'?"
He had some difficulty understanding what she meant, but after she had gesticulated the word she was talking about he finally gave her a phrase.
I realised that he seemed to have understood 'thick' to mean more 'wide' than 'viscous'
so, when Sue next asked for a milk shake she asked them to make it 'wide'!

The point of that diversion?
Well the word that we translate as 'love' is often a number of different words in the Gospels.
There are 5 or 6 Greek words agape, eros, philos...etc several Latin words caritas, amor...and so on
And we often just call them ...love.
John plays around with these words a bit, and we don't always undersstand the subtlety of it.

This passage however gives us a pointer...Jesus says "You should love as I have loved"
We do not need so much to understand the words as know the quality of life

How has Jesus loved?
The love of Jesus is shown in two related ways.
First he gives up his godly status to be born as a human being
(see my reflexion on Philippians 2 here which explains this).
This character of his life is humility
He doe not use his power to manipulate or to get his own way
but rather lays it aside.
We often simply want to bludgeon our way to success,
whether it be at work or at home
maybe we are sometimes more subtle than this
and try not to look like we are doing this
BUT if we take these passages seriously
then the way we are to love
is by emptying ourself!

The second way we see Christ loving
is by giving up his life.
This is really hard for those of us who live in a world that says
look after yourself and take care of your own life
There is almost a reckless abandon
wo Christ's gift of the life that is lived at the disposal of others.

It is such a radical gift that it transforms not only his own life
but also the life of others.

There is a promise that living one's life with such radical obedience
will bring new, resurrected life to bear.

For thought and prayer
Where do I use my life to manipulate and how do I need to stop doing this?
Where is God calling me to put aside my giftedness, my authority and to live out of the risk of not using it?
Where can I lay down my life for others?
Pray for the courage to do this!

On being a sheep

Post for Sunday 29th April John 10:22-30

John 10:22-30

10:22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

10:23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.

10:24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

10:25 Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me;

10:26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.

10:27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

10:29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand.

10:30 The Father and I are one."

No image is fonder to traditional Christians than that of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
Yet it is a foreign image which bears little relevance to most of us urban city dwellers.
Even in this country (Australia) the intimacy of the image...one shepherd caring for a small flock of sheep...is not the way we look after sheep.
They are in hundreds and thousands, largely left to their own devices
until the time comes for them to be killed or shorn.
So we need to look beyond the image and translate it to our modern times.
A couple of pointers
being a sheep is about belonging
It's only as we belong to Christ
that we understand and believe

• This would suggest that the Good News is about the decision we make to be Christ's
• And not so much about intellectual knowledge.

  As important as doctrine and learning are, life in Christ is actually about being in touch with the person of the Risen Christ

• How might we be in touch?

  We need to maintain a deep commitment to personal and regular prayer. We will meet Jesus in so far as we encounter him in the early morning, and in the evening, this is a figurative way of looking at prayer of course. but we need to do it

  We will meet Jesus in the shared life of the Christian community. There are no solitary Christians...we are the Body of Christ, members of one another.

  in so far as we struggle with one another (difficult as we are) we are exploring the depth of relationship in Christ and coming to know Jesus in depth

• The spirit of obedience

  Jesus could not be blunter..We hear his voice, and we do what he tells us. What is Christ saying to me in my life? Do I respond by doing what he tells me to do?

  What does the life of the Body of Christ say to me about what Jesus invites me to be and do? Do I do it?

THIS WEEK

• Take some time to reflect on what I hear Jesus saying, through my prayer, through my life, through experience of community
• What 2 or 3 things do I seem to hear Jesus saying to me about how to faithfully follow
• What resistance do I have to obedience? What do I need to do about it?
  

And much fish

This Sunday, 22nd April is the Third of Easter and the readings are Acts 9:1-6, (7-20); Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

There is a confluence of feast days this week, St George's Day (which is important to some of my parishioners!) on April 23 (also my mother-in laws birthday!) ANZAC Day (important in Australia as a commemoration of the First War) and St Mark's Day both of these latter on April 25.

I have written recently about some aspects of this week's gospel narrative (here)

There is in this passage a mixture of the historical and the symbolical
this is not to denigrate either of these important aspect of literary style.
Quite to the contrary, they rather work together
to give us a more complete picture.
John's gospel always seems to offer a richness
which is worth pondering on as there is usually more there than meets the eye.

There are two simple things immediately apparent
The first is (as noted in my earlier commentary)
that John is providing the logical development and conclusion
to the story of Peter's betrayal.
Peter, who has betrayed Jesus
not once but three times
is given the opportunity to make it up
....not once but three times.
At the very least, this shows the way God deals with us
not just matter of factly
but with care and consideration
attending to the depth of the restoration
that is needed
and not just going through the motions, however thorough.

There is also an abundance of material flowing out of John's pen (or quill I suppose)
which is providing the closure of his treatise on the gift of eternal life.

We see being concluded in these final chapters of John
what is posited in the opening chapters
that the Word made flesh
is drawing people
in their human lives into the relationship with God
we called abundant and eternal life.

The mystical fish that are caught...153...
sometimes taken to be all the nations of the world
a sign of the universality of this eternal life
that is being offered:

God so loves the world
not just a select handful of initiates
or one tiny little nation

we sometimes miss some of this important symbolism.

But if we bring the two together
we recognise that nor is it just about understanding the mystery of faith
it is struggling with how this is worked out in our lives.
It is not secret mystical knowledge - Gnosis
It is the fleshliness of our lives
it's the emotional trauma we get into
because of failure, weakness, betrayal

This is the world in which the Divine Word has been made flesh.

The very ground in which God's salvation will be worked out
is not mysticism
it is life.
Not that we should treat this lightly
or even assume that we understand it terribly well.
We often muck it up.
Or run away from it.
We need to plummet its depths,
with Jesus for sure
and encounter the woundedness of the risen Christ
as we also open our own woundedness up to him..

This week
Where is God inviting me to be deeper?
Where do I need to allow Christ to meet me and restore my life?
Can I pray for courage to attend to the most difficult depths and to allow Jesus to bring eternal life to me there?

See the wounds

The reading for today are the continuation of the Easter narratives:Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31

This Sunday is the Second in Easter, April 15th 2oo7 sometimes called Low Sunday

A spiritual companion once advised me when talking of "speaking to Christ"

that if I was unsure about the process

then I should ask Christ to show me the wounds in his hands.

It seems a macabre thingh to do, but it is I think authentic

We should beware the sort of Christianity that avoids the wounds of Christ.

We should not make the mistake of thinking, on the other extreme,

that we should inflict suffering in order to encounter Jesus,

But we have here an insight about resurrection faith that is quite keen.

It will be in pain and anguish

that we come to understand

that Christ holds us in place.

It will be at death's door

that the mystery of life eternal

is most keenly felt.

It will be when we feel uncertain

unsure, and even faithless

rather than when we are confident, strong

and full of spiritual energy

That we hear Jesus call us by name.

This sort of experience is so widely documented

in the lives of faithful people

that we do well to note that it was right there at the beginning

with the apostles

In our life

Look for the wounds

and there you you will find the Christ

Making a difference - EASTER DAY

I am glad that we are spared in the Southern hemisphere the incessant link of Easter with Spring.
Although almost everything we do symbolically and liturgically
is redolent of the Northern and Western hemsipheres
here in the south, it is dry, dusty and dying
as autumn sets in.
So we do not have to grapple too much with the idea that
Easter is just a sort of universal principle
of death and rebirth
like the bulbs that are planted
and come back to life
or the lambs which skip in the fields
and the chickens that hatch on the supermarket shelves!!


What then is Easter for us?

It is caught up, I suggest with the rumour if Easter
that spreads amongst the early disciples
that things can be made new
that things will change
that life will be different.
That difference is spelled out
in the focus on baptism
that is so much for us the focus of Easter.
In saying
I turn to Christ
whether as a baptismal candidate
or renewing our promises
we are seeking a radical re-identification
of our lives with something that is important.
We don't just want life to be the same
we want it to change.
That is not to say that we are called to flit around from pillar to post
never settling at anything or anywhere,
but rather that there are aspects of our lives
which need to change.

The baptismal vows invite us to repent of sin
who of us in our right minds would not do this
I don't want to be a thief, a liar, a cheat, an adulterer.
Easter says, then don't.
Live differently.
I am invited to reject selfishness
a hard ask in today's world.
We all know that
piles of stuff, and an endless supply of everything
will not give us what we want.
That "looking after number one: is a vain and empty philosophy
Strangely as we look at families bringing babies to be baptised
we see a radical challenge to selfishness
right in the most obvious place.
People commit themselves to live with each other
not selfishly
but giving their lives to each other,
parents to children, wives and husbands to each other.
We reject this mystery of the unselfish life at our peril.
We are understanding on a global scale
that we need to live cooperatively
with each other, with our environment
if we do not live unselfishly, then we will not live at all


And finally I renounce evil that pattern of life
which will say principally
that other people are for my use and benefit.
This is is both a "micro" pattern and a "macro" pattern.

Micro evil exists, for example, when we thinkl that we can use other people
for own fulfilment.
It is the parent who enslaves their child through guilt
It is the boss who exploits the worker.
It is the friend who use their friendship to manipulate their friend
rather than to set free.
This is the level at which most of us operate most of the time.

There are bigger patterns.
Where wealthy countries (like our own)
exploit the resources of the world disproportionately
where we abuse our power so that we get wealthier
whilst the poor get poorer.
There are iniquities like prostitution, pornography and the drug trade
which treat people liek commodities.
Easter says there is a possibility to say NO!
I reject evil

If we appreciate nothing else at Easter
we are called to appreciate that
the bold words
I turn to Christ
are words of change and words of action.
They are the possibility that things will be different
and end to sin, selfishness and evil.
We make an individual commitment to this.

Of course there is a sense in which this will all go pear-shaped.
That is not the point.
because we can come back and make this commitment
again and again if necessary.
It is a freedom to understand that things can and will be different.
I am part of that.
And so so are you.

Do you turn to Christ?

Too much, too little, too late- GOOD FRIDAY

The Crucifixion of Jesus

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says,
‘They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.’
And that is what the soldiers did.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This story is so powerful, and yet ordinary. Although we make a big thing about it. People die every day.
I am struck as I write about it that this is the sort of thing that I say about the Christmas story. Waving my hand in the general direction of the Flinders Medical Centre, we forget that young girls give birth all the time.
People die every day.
Most do not die in the sort of excruciating way that Jesus died. Some do, as victims of torture. Most go unnoticed.
Expect by a few family and others who hope against hope that things won't turn out so bad.
Even those who do not die violently
Do not go easily
A few do
But most of us don't want to do that.

We note some things then that this death tells us about all deaths
Our own included.

death is a barren and difficult place.. even the sound Golgotha
tells us that it is not easy to be at this point
We need to be sensitive to that for ourselves and others.
We are misunderstood, even at death's point
A sign is put over his head Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
He neither assent to this, nor agrees with it.
We are misunderstood even at the point of death
this often happens when we talk to each other over a cup of coffee
about our father or sister, and we hear stories from sources other than ourselves
that tell us that different people have differing experiences of the dead one.
Our knowledge of each other is partial.
We should be slow to judge and generous to to forgive

Life goes on, Christ robe has to be disposed of
this need to be done in the right way
we need to be careful to do it properly.
We are so often hurried, and uncaring
and need to be carefull...Full of Care
for ourselves and for each other.

There are few people who are there at the end
who really know
we need to be careful of each other
our sadnesses, our sense of powerlessness
and to recognise that it is part of our humanity
to be there for the dying
and to to be there for each other.

As we watch our bodily urges get stripped away
we are reminded that they need to be attended to.
Praise God for the modern Hospice Movement
which encourages us to attend properly to the comfort and needs of the dying

Finally there is a real sense
that we die when we are ready.
Jesus was not so much killed
as he allowed himself to die when he was ready.

There is a sense about the freedom which God gives us
which is never taken away.

death is an invitation to eneter into life.
With all it's difficulty.
Tryoing to name things correctly,
to be honest and bold.
And in the end to decide to submit
to what will be
our last act.

At the Name of Jesus -Thursday in Holy Week

Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

This passage is an important one in understanding who Christ is and how he works. It makes no bones about the fact that Jesus is "the form of God" (the argument is probably about what that means). Christians came to understand that in this person, Jesus Christ, God is uniquely revealed.
To put it simply if we want to know what God is like then we have a human picture. Jesus is what John Robinson called "The Human Face of God".

Paul tells us in this p[assage from Philippians 2 a number of important things about how this equality with God works.

First, although equal with God, Jesus chose to empty himself of his godliness. Thus we see the Christ who heals, teaches and who is in touch with God is one who is operating out of his humanity. A perfect humanity at that. This suggests to us that there is within us the capacity to be as Christ. We do not have to become God, because Jesus is acting out of his humanity having emptied himself of his Godliness.

Second, although being equal with God puts Jesus in a position of power. He chooses not to act out of that power. Rather he empties himself and opens himself to humiliation, slavery and ultimately death.

Although we are often tempted to use our power to get what we want done. This does not appear to be the way of Jesus, he emptied himself.

Is there here an invitation in following Christ to deliberately and radically set aside our power?
Are there situations, relationships and issues that we are presently confronting where we should "empty ourselves" of all but love?

The Power of betrayal- Wednesday in Holy Week

Matthew 26:14-25

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

The Passover with the Disciples

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ’ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’

There are many powerful motifs in the Passion Story and one of them is betrayal. It is easy to project all the dimensions of this on to others, in this story on Judas.

What this passage shows is that the possibility of betrayal is at our doorstep. As Jesus reveals that one will betray him, so they each say "Surely not I, Lord?"....I am not sure of the force of the Greek here. But presumably it is a question rather than an emphatic statement.
They all thus assume that Jesus knows them better than they know themselves, and is able to say how they are likely to act. They do not therefore assert that they will not betray him, but rather question whether they will be the one who snaps.
This is actually I think the reality of the situation betrayal lies at our door, it is a question rather than a definite no!
We make the transition by committing ourselves to the life of Jesus above everything else.
It may, and probably will at some time, lead us to our own Cross.
The Cross, is also the gate to the eternal life that God longs for us to have in Christ.
Today
Pray for commitment to Christ, deeper than we have ever been committed before.
Commitment that moves us from question to certainty, from betrayal to loyalty.

State of Denial-Tuesday in Holy Week

John 13:21-38

Jesus Foretells His Betrayal

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

The New Commandment

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

This is a powerful passage. Some years ago when I was preaching about Peter I was talking about this passage and the corresponding one after the resurrection when Jesus restores Peter after his denial.
I started to cry and I couldn't stop.
I have always wanted to be the sort of preacher (like John Wesley) who the Spirit can use to move people to tears, but didn't quite expect to be the one who was moved myself!
Why did it happen. I can only conclude that it is because I am Peter; we all are Peter. Filled with bravado, and bold words. But not given to depth, and easily distracted.
Certainly I am like this.
But the tears come not from the fact that I have disappointed myself. The tears came from the profound sense of acceptance that God offers to each one of us.
God does not demand high standards, he rather comes to us at our lowest ebb intent upon making us whole. The Pharisee in us doesn't easily get this. We want to be self-righteous. But have no reason to be so!
Where do you see God inviting you to come back to him. Where does God want to respond to your weakness and forgive you?
Can you admit addiction, depression, failure, sadness...sin?
Why not allow that restoration to happen and let God to restore you?

State of Denial-Tuesday in Holy Week

John 13:21-38

Jesus Foretells His Betrayal

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

The New Commandment

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

This is a powerful passage. Some years ago when I was preaching about Peter I was talking about this passage and the corresponding one after the resurrection when Jesus restores Peter after his denial.
I started to cry and I couldn't.
I have always wanted to be the sort of preacher (like John Wesley) who the Spirit can use to move people to tears, but didn't quite expect to be the one who was moved myself!
Why did it happen. I can only conclude that it is because I am Peter; we all are Peter. Filled with bravado, and bold words. But not given to depth, and easily distracted.
Certainly I am like this.
But the tears come not from the fact that I have disappointed myself. The tears came from the profound sense of acceptance that God offers to each one of us.
God does not demand high standards, he rather comes to us at our lowest ebb intent upon making us whole. the Pharisee in us doesn't easily get this. We want to be self-righteous. But have no reason to be so!
Where do you see God inviting you to come back to him. Where does God want to respond to your weakness and forgive you?
Why not allow that restoration to happen and let God to restore you?

Judgmentalism -Monday in Holy Week

John 12, 1-11

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

This story is a powerful foreshadowing of the events that are to be played out later in the week. Today I wonder two things about Judas Iscariot. First is the disdain with which he is treated in this story. He is, of course, the natural villain. It doesn't take much for us to believe that his motives were not good.

If for a moment we stop and choose not to focus our anger on him but rather to identify with him, do we recognise in his response some of our own poverty of spirit.

How easily do we criticise the grand gestures of others, and drag them down to the level of the mundane? Parents who see not their childrens creative abilities, but only the mess they have made! Bosses who cannot see the effort that their employees have put into trying to reach impossible targets, only the fact that they haven't reached them.

It is a small minded-ness that exposes rather more abvout us than it does about others.

It is this second point which might exercise our minds today. What does our criticism, often vicious in the extreme, of others say about me? It is a fairly basic insight that criticism often says more about the one who criticises, than it does about the one who is criticised.
Judas judges the woman by his own standards...not on her own merits, or through the eyes of Jesus.
As we look critically at others, let us also ask what does this also say about us. And what does it ask me to do about my own life...rather than suggesting how others might improve their own foolishness.

And if I tempted am to sin
and outward things are strong
do thou, O Lord, keep watch within
and keep my soul from wrong