More thoughts on the saints

We keep Sunday 1st November as All Saints Day, and 2nd November as All Souls Day...It is a basic tenet of Christian life that the 'communion of saints' is with us in this world and also beyond the grave. I always find this season both encouraging and challenging As the year draws towards its close we move in the Church's year from thinking about day to day life to the fulfillment of the promises of God's kingdom. In the Church of England this season is called Kingdom Time It is, I think, a good name. In my mind it begins around the end of October with the feast of St Simon and St Jude (28th October) So far as we know they are two of the apostles listed in the Gospels but we know very little about them. Jude is traditionally called "The Obscure" meaning that whoever he is we don't actually have any detail.

[Indeed that's why Thomas Hardy reminds us in his dark novel of failed ambition and thwarted hope which is entitled Jude the Obscure(full text here) of a man who fails to make it because he is unknown, unrecognised, unappreciated...he is indeed Obscure]

This feast is a prelude to the great feast day that we encounter on November 1st....All Saints Day...and which is followed the day after by All Soul's Day, when the dead are commemorated We are here in a world which transcends the grave what the Apostle's Creed calls the communion of saints This is heady stuff! Too much for some! But we may be prompted to ask what this is all about Isn't it just religious mumbo-jumbo? Of course it could be, that may indeed be the point. If we get to the guts of it the saints point us to how faith might be lived with authenticity and integrity We are constantly tempted to whitewash the saints (like any heroes) and romanticise them. Indeed we do this to Jesus! But as we begin to scratch their stories we soon realise that their lives are anything but pristine. Let me just reflect briefly on three saints. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is arguably the most influential Christian thinker of the 21st century. His call to radical discipleship and to see the gospel as the challenge to freely decide to follow Christ in every aspect of life is now almost taken for granted. It does not seem too radical, and yet for Bonhoeffer his life was lived with a total commitment to community, to prayer and to human action. This latter ultimatley saw him caught up in the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Germany, he laid his life on the line by being one of those who sought to assassinate Hitler. This cost him his life, he was arrested and ultimately imprisoned. Executed only weeks before the war ended we see in his life the Cost of Discipleship ( a title of one of his books) played out in reality in his own life. Such a saint sets us before us the reality of Christian life, of the possibility of being faithful in life to all that Christ sets before us. Mother Teresa too, that amazing little Eastern European nun who ended up in India looking after the poorest of the poor she did it because she felt called to do Something Beautiful for God (a book about her made popular by Malcolm Muggeridge in the 70s) She too set before the world the possibility of being faithful not just in word but in deed. Francis catches the popular imagination for the same reason Although an incurable idealist, he was a fundamental pragmatist selling everything he worked to care for poor people and those who no one else loved He witnesses to the fact that it is possible to be faithful to Christ in life, in word and in deed

THIS WEEK Do you hear the call of the saints? The reality of the call to be faithful. How is God calling you to practise your sainthood in your life? What one thing can you do to be a saint this week...it will be loving, it will be faithful, it will be possible. So do it!

Resting from labour

Readings for All Saints. Celebrated on 1st November or a Sunday round that time. Isaiah 25:6-9; Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6; John 11:32-44

When we talk about the dead

we often use the language of rest and sleep.

"Asleep in Christ", "Rest in peace" and so on...

One of my former parishioners once said to me at someone's funeral

"The last thing I would want is eternal rest"

I can't help but agree, it sounds rather boring

Cautious speculation

We need to be cautious about speculating about what life for the dead is like

although we have some, even many, references in the Bible

to life after death

many of them are highly poetic

are filled with imagery

which we need to remember and be cautious about taking literally

what is meant to inspire the imagination.

If we think about the use of images

we use them precisely because we want to think more expansively

rather than less

the images seek to engage us

at a deeper level than a mere literalism might so do.

When we look at a crowd, for example, and talk about a "sea of faces"

this is much more evocative

than simply saying "2000 people", or "lots of faces".

The use of the image "sea" conjures all sorts of feeling and emotions for us.

The sense that there is a vastness,

it has a sameness about it from moment to moment,

yet it is also infinitle variable.

It can be placid and calm, or raging and exciting..,.

and so we might go on

The image opens up doors that otherwise remain shut.

The question of truth

There is sometimes the suggestion

that anything less than the narrowly literalist

is not exactly "true"

This is not the case if you think about it.

The image in essence opens up areas that would otherwise be firmly closed

Readings for All Saints. Celebrated on 1st November or a Sunday round that time. Isaiah 25:6-9; Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6; John 11:32-44

When we talk about the dead we often use the language of rest and sleep. "Asleep in Christ", "Rest in peace" and so on... One of my former parishioners once said to me at someone's funeral "The last thing I would want is eternal rest" I can't help but agree, it sounds rather boring Cautious speculation We need to be cautious about speculating about what life for the dead is like although we have some, even many, references in the Bible to life after death many of them are highly poetic are filled with imagery which we need to remember and be cautious about taking literally what is meant to inspire the imagination. If we think about the use of images we use them precisely because we want to think more expansively rather than less the images seek to engage us at a deeper level than a mere literalism might so do. When we look at a crowd, for example, and talk about a "sea of faces" this is much more evocative than simply saying 2000 people, or lots of faces. The use of the image "sea" conjures all sorts of feeling and emotions for us. The sense that there is a vastness, it has a sameness about it from moment to moment, yet it is also infinitle variable. It can be placid and calm, or raging and exciting..,.and so we might go on The image opens up doors that otherwise remain shut. The question of truth There is sometimes the suggestion that anything less than the narrowly literalist is not exactly "true" This is not the case if you think about it. The image in essence opens up areas that would otherwise be firmly closed ......more coming

What do you want me to do for you?

If we were really honest with ourselves, which is often not the case, we would find that we spend an awful lot of time and energy on things that are not terribly satisfying...or even what we want

Readings for Pentecost 21, Sunday October 25 include Job 42:1-6, 10-17, Psalm 34, Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52

Most of us have only a fleeting glimpse of what we really want out of life, relationships or from God

What do you want me to do for you?

If we were really honest with ourselves, (which is often not the case)

, we would find that we spend an awful lot of time and energy on things that are not terribly satisfying…

really not even what we want

Yet it is, of course,

what we really want

that drives us.

We may want to be liked.

To feel financially secure.

Or even just to be left alone!!!

Bartimaeus

The gospel shows us what we sometimes experience

-that in crisis, or difficulty, at a time of great stress

that “what we want”

may be clearly focussed

This perhaps gives us an insight into one of the benefits of those tough times

that it is at moment of our greatest need

or difficulty

that we can be particularly receptive to God’s grace

We are often not inclined to think like this.

For Bartimaeus, he can see very clearly (interesting for a blind man)

what he needs from Jesus

and he will not be silenced.

Can we get that very clear focus?

It is particularly of note that Jesus is able to respond to Bartimaeus in his genuine need.

THIS WEEK

What particular troubles do we have on our plate at the moment?

What might God be able to give us if we allow him?

Can we have the courage to cry out, and the determination to not be put off

Reviewing the meaning of life

Suffering is the great mystery. We struggle to understand it but don't find it easy. Maybe there is not an answer in the narrow way we often think of such things

there
Readings for Sunday 18 October 2009, Pentecost 20, (Proper 29) Job 38:1-24; Psalm 104:1-26; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:32-45. These readings can be read progressively through the week to prepare you for Sunday

Is the "mystery of suffering" revealed this week? (See Job 38)
I don't pretend that the "answer" that the book of Job gives to the purpose, cause and meaning of suffering
is ultimately satisfying.
It does however point us to an ultimate reality or two!
Mystery
We do not comprehend everything.
We live under the misapprehension
that everything is ultimately knowable.
If only we can get enough information
or if we can gain enough experience
then we will utimately arrive at the answer.
The story of Job suggests to us that this is not entirely true.
We will never understand the mystery of God
how he creates, renews, restores
The best we can hope for is, like some sort of calculus,
to draw close to the absolute limit of our understanding
but we never reach the complete finality.
Entering into the mystery
The gospel passage though gives us another way in
To James and John who quite miss the point of what life with Christ might be like
and seem to think that it is about some sort of power play
Jesus says "Can you be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?"
When this question is asked they glibly say "Of course!"
But one must wonder if they would have spoken so boldly on Good Friday
or 20 or more years later.
What Jesus is reminding us in this passage is that there is a cost involved
and we might say we understand the mystery of life
as we engage with it.
It is necessary to enter into the mystery
it is not an idea
it is an experience.
It is not a series of theologies
it is relationship.
This is evident to me when ministering to those at great points of difficulty
like grief, or relationship breakdown
or depression
I am sometimes led to say that this sort of experience
is an extraordinary opportunity as well as an enormous difficulty.
Quite often people affirm this insight after the event.
It is, after all, another way of stating the mystery of the cross.
If we are to look at how God operates then we should turn to the powerful events of our faith
We will be brought to the point
where our life might be extinguished
and we can choose to encounter this
as Jesus does
and in so doing
we pass through it and are transformed
or we can play religious, theological, or philosophical games about God
when we are actually being called to encounter the reality of God.

THIS WEEK
Where is Jesus calling you to respond to challenge and the Cross?
What are the practical demands that this places on my life?
Pray for the courage to accept this challenge.

Dear and glorious

Christians keep alive the memory and example of the saints. This Sunday, 18 October, is St Luke's Day.

Readings for Sunday 18th October, St Luke's Day can include Jeremiah 8:22-9:3; Psalm 145:10-18, 2 Tim 4:9-17, Luke 1:1-4, Luke 10:1-9; Luke 24:44-53

We know surprisingly little about most saints, but about St Luke we can glean quite a lot.

He is the writer of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

He does not seem to have been a Jew, but became an adherent of Christianity fairly early in the piece.

We don't know whether he actually met Jesus, it seems unlikely

his major association is with St Paul

and we can glean from the Acts of the Apostles

that he actually travelled with Paul

on some significant journeys

we know this partly through the 'we' passages.

They are where we can detect a grammatical change

he stop saying "they" did this and "they" did that

and says "we" did this.

(This may be a 'literary convention' but it seems more likely that Luke was actually present for some of these events at least)

His Gospel is quite well written and structured

and he seems (for example) to have some pretty important themes to explore:

like care for the poor, the role of women, the place of children

and the spread of the Gospel.

We know from the text that he was probably a physician,

and novelist Taylor Caldwell wrote a charming book based on his life

called "Dear and Glorious Physician"

Strangely he does not write much, or specifically, about the actual ministry of healing

even though he is quite naturally associated with that aspect of Christian life.

Most of this is "by way of background"

but I make some observations:

1. We believe in the communion of saints

It is a basic tenet of Christianity that we are a community ...we call ourselves the communion of saints

For us, the saints are not only those who, like Luke, have died

but all those people who are bound to Christ through baptism

the grave does not separate us from God

or from each other,

We pray together, with and for each other and for God's work.

Some might be better at this than others, but it is the duty of us all

to praise God and pray for the coming of the kingdom!

2. We are all called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus

Luke happens to have written his account of the Christian Life

but the evangelists remind us that we are all to tell the story

3. Luke tells us the story from his particular perspective

The casual reader is always struck by the fact that each Gospel...Matthew, Mark, John and Luke

have similarities

but they also differ.

Luke's particular emphases are important for us to consider,

they remind us that the Gospel is a living tradition

and each of us needs to work it through in our own context.

For Luke: the concern of the poor, the spread of the Gospel outside Judaism,

the need for 'labourers in the harvest'

were important emphases....each saint lays the emphasis in differing ways.

What might your emphasis be?

4. The saints encourage each other

One striking feature of Luke's ministry is his encouragement

those plaintive words of St Paul...at a low point in his ministry

Only Luke is with me!

Remind us that solidarity is often the greatest gift that friends and family can give to each other

Do we take out Christian solidarity...support by and for the other saints seriously?

We give thanks for St Luke

Commit ourselves to work out what it means to be Christian in our lives

to the spread of the Gospel

to be a labourer

and to be faithful.

The two edged sword

Do we believe that God honours the promises made to us in the Scriptures? The idea that the Word of God cuts us to the very core is a powerful and active connection with the God who does what he promises.
Job 23:1-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
Readings for Sunday 11th October 2009, Pentecost 19, Proper 28

There is much that we would ask God if we had the opportunity
more of that shortly....
We are not terribly familiar with swords in practice
so when we read about the two edged sword
we need to understand that it is a highly toned weapon.
It cuts going in and it cuts coming out.
It pierces and and it disects.
It set out to do what it says.
The writer to the Hebrews likens the active of word of God to such a weapon.
It achieves what it sets out to do.
In short God will do for us everything that God promises to do.
If you begin to recite all the promises that you remember...and they are many
Some of mine are:
Come to me and I will give you rest
I will make all things new
I am with you always, even to the end of the age
Whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's
I will send my Comforter, the Holy Spirit to be with you
In the valley of the shadow of death I am with you, my rod and staff protect you .......and so I could go on,
you can think of your own
If we allow them to these words cut us to the very core
they do what they set out achieve.
Sometimes this is surprising,
we don't always know
what we are asking for.
Like Job, the realisation that God is acting
and acting powerfully,
can be terrifying
St Ignatius Loyola tells us that
most of us have no idea what God will do for us
if only we would let him.
When we, however tentatively, permit God to act
(remember God will not overpower us...see last week)
then God can and will move effectively to achieve what he promises.

There is an example in this Gospel reading we have this week (Mark 10:17-29)
the man comes seeking eternal life.
He is intelligent and religious, and he can ask and answer the right questions.
He is seduced by Jesus's clarity of thought:
But, he asks "What else must I do?"
So Jesus tells him...Young man, for you the attachment to material goods gets in your way,
He knows he has heard the right answer
and he doesn't like it.
Even Jesus's disciples are shocked.

What about me? It isn't fair!
What question do I really want to ask Jesus?
I actually want to encourage you to ask it.
More than that I want you to try and listen to the answer.
This is not always easy
We don't easily receive what we don't like to hear.
Are you concerned about why you can't love better?
Do you wonder why those who you want to love seem distant and remote?
Why is my life so boring?
Why can't I make sense of what is happening?
What is your question?
PERHAPS WE SHOULD BE CAREFUL
like the young man
the questions seem innocent and easy enough
but if we really want to hear the Word of God
then expect the two edged sword.

We don't need to fear.
But it may not,
and indeed probably won't
be easy.

This week
Take a little time
to reflect on what you would ask Jesus if he were with you.
Then remember that He is!
Do you want to have the conversation?
In the quietness speak gently with him,
and listen to what he says
and how he speaks.
We need not fear.
It won't be easy
but it will be good.