Three last things....part the 1st. On Being One

Trinity Sunday June 15 2014 Genesis 1:1-2:4a Psalm 8 II Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20 in the APBA lectionary Exodus 34:1-8 can also be used

We are fortunate in our parish to lead a relatively harmonious and trouble free life.
This is part of the privilege and the luxury of living with religious freedom
in Western democracy
Not everyone in the world does.
We do not live without ridicule,
nor should we;
most of the ridicule heaped on us
is because we are ridiculous.
And behave in foolish and petty ways.
Sometimes our behaviour has been shameful
unloving, unkind
and certainly unChristlike

Sometimes people have said to me: "It must be difficult having two churches."
I have not found it to be so.
I usually quickly say: We are one parish with two buildings
This is a wise decision this parish made many years ago
when Diocesan rules and regulations were changed.

This decision to be ONE is very Trinitarian.
Though made up of a number of different entities, people, parts
even buildings
There is at our heart a UNITY.
The UNITY does not destroy the individuality.

We are about to enter a time of change.
For a while this will probably seem imperceptible.
But it would be good if on this Trinity Sunday
we are very clear that the UNITY that we are blessed with
is something that is Jesus's own prayer for us.
May they be One Father even as you and I are One.

When we are tempted to say "I am an All Hallows person"
or "I am a St John's person".....that may be true at a shallow level
W

But it is very secondary to what we need to also remember...
...I am actually called to be a Godly person, a Jesus person, a Spirit-filled person.

Do not allow the temptations: to impose our own will, to manipulate,
to become wishy washy, to play games.
Sometimes just imperceptible. Sometimes unknowing.
This (what we call interregnum)
is actually not a time to slacken off
or lessen support for the UNITY of the parish.
But rather to pray earnestly:
For the parish
For each other
and for a new priest

That we may all be ONE
Children of the same Father, a Jesus person, open to the new and gracious leading of the Spirit

This is always a prayer for every day of the life of a Christian community
 ...but particularly at this slightly trickier part of the journey.