Eternal struggles

Readings for Sunday 9th September (Proper 23 Pentecost 15) might include Proverbs 22, Psalm 125, James 2:1-17*, Mark 7:24-37

It may help us at this time 
to realise that the woman we read about in these readings , (The "Syro Phoenician Woman" )
lived in that coastal region to the north of the modern state of Israel 
and west of modern Syria 
that has often been under the pall of the war.
Bearing in mind that many of those peoples who live there today 
trace their antecedents back well over the 2000 years of the common era (CE), 
it is conceivable that her living descendants are caught up in today's conflicts.
And the readings reminds us that 
tension between different ethnic groups was there at the time of Christ, as it is there today. 
It is a sadness but a truth.
They remind us, too, 
that we fickle humans are open to prejudice of all sorts, 
economic, gender-based, class oriented, 
religious and of course the stupidity of racial prejudice
Even Jesus is caught up in it. 
"It is not fair, " he says of this woman's daughter, 
"that I should take the food that is meant for the Jews and feed it to the dogs!"
None of us would take too kindly to our children being referred to as dogs. 
(let alone that some commentators suggest this word "dogs" is slang parlance for prostitutes)
he is no doubt using a common idiom. 
Speaking as he had been brought up to speak of his near neighbours.
We fall easily into that trap ourselves 
when we talk of Indonesians, Aborigines, even (perhaps in an earlier era) Poms!!

The common bondThere is, however, a resilience about this woman 
(which we see in the people of today)
that causes her to persist with Jesus, and her persistence is rewarded.
Coupled with this 
we read a story about another persistent man, who was deaf. 
And who, like many of the profoundly deaf, had a speech impediment.
Such people, too, have a resilience which is at times admirable 
and also a little intimidating
stemming, on their part, from years of prejudice against them 
and misunderstanding 
with which they have had to deal.
What we see in these two stories is the invitation to transcend our prejudice
and to put our trust in Jesus.
To take the next step of faith and move forward.
Sometimes this will take us quite out of our comfort zone.
Other times it will just be one more step along the road we go!

The woman has to wrestle with Jesus.

Is he trying to establish just how determined she is?

Is he forcing her to get to the root of what she really wants?

Spiritual Directors and the works of the saints will tell us 
this is a key understanding
in our journey of faith,
understanding what really makes us tick,
establishing what it is that we really want.
For this woman she really has to fight for her daughter,
for this man he has to be prepared to sit quietly with Jesus
and put aside his anxiety.

I ask myself...what is it that I really want?
Am I so clouded in my vision (prejudice)
that I fail to see what I really want.
Am I so frightened by life, by failure, 
by weakness, by depression, 
by confusion....you name it, it's there...
that I find it impossible to trust
even God.

The stories remind us 
that this would seem the way to go.
Indeed the only way to go!
Not the way of putting your trust in human vanity
of being impressed by wealth or human achievement
as we so easily are,
but rather by taking the next step along the road with Christ.

For this woman 
it is quite a vigorous struggle with Jesus.
For this man 
it is being taken to one side.
What will it be for me or for you this week?

This weekAllow God the opportunity that we so often deny
to let us take the next small step.
What prejudices are guiding our thinking at this stage in our life
...am I frightened of the future
...am I dictated to by the past
...do I fail to see the goodness in some people because of my bias or narrowness
...am I closed to God because I like the easy life...

God does not demand that our life be turned upside down 
every moment of every day
some days will be rough
most days we are just to keep on moving on.
Not, mind you, standing still.
Maybe just the next small step.

For you prayers:
In the time of quiet, perhaps early in the day

LORD LET ME CONFRONT MY OWN SELF TODAY
AND TO ENCOUNTER YOUR CALL TO ME
LET ME HEAR YOUR CHALLENGE
WALK IN FAITH
AND GIVE ME COURAGE TO RESPOND, YES!

On being free, and being set free

Readings for Sunday 2nd September might include  Song Songs 2:8-13, Psalm 45, James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-23 (Proper 22 & Pentecost 14)

It is good to be challenged.
On TV these days we are challenged all the time!
There are endless game shows, 
in which there is "challenge".
Some of it, most I suspect, quite ridiculous

But these days I often just find the News challenging!
Some days...Afghanistan, Syria, Israel,Refugees, Bombings, bank hold ups
Plane crashes, global warming, petrol, endless political drivel and infighting...... 
the news comes on and I feel my heart sink.
I often don't want to be challenged with so much stuff that I can do nothing about.

Today's readings remind us that there is about life a sense of challenge
which is good and right
and if we are not to be overwhelmed by it
we need to focus on the meaningful challenges

Right relationshipsThe curious passage in The Song of Songsis a an invitation to see that our intimate relationships
are called to be exciting and thrilling.
Many of us settle into a passive neutrality in our closest relationships
as though this is what God intends for us.
At least this passage reminds us that
there may be more that is possible
and we need perhaps to respond to the challenge
to seek depth
rather than to avoid the challenge and risk of getting close to another person.
This is not always easy!!

Responding to challenge.James remind us there are certain challenges that we need to watch out for in relationships
and he names some key principles:

• generosity---which he sees as an inspired choice that we make about the character of our life. We choose to be generous


• we need to listen rather than speak---this again is a choice that we make about the way we conduct our relationships


• be slow to anger---another choice.Often we think of anger as something that overtakes us, that we have no control over. But james in suggesting that we be slow to anger is saying . Wechoose whether or not we are angry.


• Other choices her talks about are : turning away from wickedness, and putting into practice with our lives what we say with our lips

It is important to get the force of all this.
The challenge is to make choices in our lives 
which put the gospel into practice
and not just mouth platitudes.

Jesus puts this another way when he talks about the competing interests
of religion and the heart.
In a major thrust of his teaching he reminds us 
that it is not the rules and regulations of religion
that are important
it is the affairs of the heart.
In the end the bad and good that we get caught up in
comes about from the decisions of our heart.
This is not popular stuff.
But it is reality.
Wickedness, evil, sin...however we name it..
comes about from choices we make and not accidently.

Accidents do happen!I hear you say
and the consequences of accidents can be dire.
But what we are concerned with is not what accidently happens
but what deliberately happens.

When St Paul says to early churches
"It is for freedom that we have been set free" (cf Galatians 5)
he is not making the claim of some political manifesto
but rather a statement 
about God's intentions for humanity
...that we might be free to choose to do God's will
rather than to be pushed about by 
our own selfishness and sin.
In classical theology
we understand this to mean that 
we cannot actually do this
without the grace of God 
given to us through the life death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
To be free from anger...we need Jesus
to be a truly generous person...we need Jesus
to be loving and caring...we need Jesus.

We fail in so far as we think we can do this of ourselves.
One of our Prayer Book collects says...we have no power of ourselves, to help ourselveswe are reminded that we need to allow God to dwell within us
and to reach outside of our inward looking self
if we are to be as God intends us to be

This weekPerhaps this is "tough love" or a reality check.
Stop copping out and blaming others for behaviour:
meanness, hurtfulness, poorly controlled anger, 
spite, and all other manner of sinful relationship stufftake responsibility and choose to be free.
We cannot do this without Christ.
So our prayer this week?

Lord make us free
as Jesus himself is free.
Free to love you radically
and put aside our sinful ways. Lord make us free. AMEN

Polish your armour

Readings for Sunday 26 August  2012 can include 1Kings 8:1-43*, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-20; John  6:56-59 (Proper 21- 13th Sunday after Pentecost)


What does it mean to be holy?
It is not a terribly popular idea these days.
Our world craves sensuality and luxury
but seemingly eschews the call to be holy.
This comes probably from some false ideas of what "holiness" means.
We actually confuse it with hypocritical piety 
done to make us look good
rather than adopted as a quality of life.

Nevertheless we are reminded in these readings of the call to holiness
and it would be remiss of people of faith
to fail to recognise that God calls us to be holy
even though the world looks down on this vocation.

Holiness means "set apart for God"
So when Solomon commissions the temple of God
it is dedicated, made holy, set apart for the use of God.
We do this all the time when we pray for God's blessing
and this is a practice which is worth reflecting on.
When we pray the prayers of grace at mealtimes
we are reminded that even the ordinary things of life
are set apart for God
When we are baptised or we baptise
we remember that the baptised,
you and me, are God's holy people
set aside for God's purposes.

In our poverty of thought about baptism
we often overlook the fact
that baptism does effect change in us
It "sets us apart for God".
That we might worship him, serve him
by prayer
by care for others
by dedication of our lives.

Put on holinessIn the wonderful passage about the armour of God that Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus, we are reminded that not only is holiness a gift bestowed
it is also a choice about the way we conduct our lives.
It is not just a gift given at baptism
it is also a choice we make each day
about the way we will try to live
Paul, using the imagery of a suit of armour,
reminds us that the armour of God is to be put on
and it constitutes such things as:

• Truth
• Righteousness
• proclamation of the good news
• faith, in order to fight evil
• the promise of salvation
• and the sword of the Spirit which, Paul says, is the word of God.

He is talking here, I think, both symbolically and actually.
However we interpret it
we are to realise that being holy
is also a decision we make
about the way we choose to live.
It is not just the passive gift of God.

This week
You might pray to put on the armour of God.
At the beginning of each day
make a commitment to be a holy person.
It takes only the time required to say a focus prayer
as we get up
to make the sign of the Cross
or a deliberate intention
to be truthful, right with God, in the fight against evil
a bearer of good news, a fighter for peace
A person of the word.
Let this be your prayer this week.

LORD MAKE ME HOLY
AS YOU YOURSELF ARE HOLY
THAT I MAY
STAND FIRM IN THE TRUTH
PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE
FIGHT FOR THE HOLINESS OF GOD
AND OF HIS PEOPLE.
LORD MAKE ME HOLY
AS YOU YOURSELF ARE HOLY

Dining out with Jesus

Readings for 12th Sunday after Pentecost -Proper 20 (19th August 2012) read one reading each day to prepare yourself for Sunday's worship

1 Kings 2:10-3:14*; Psalm 11; Ephesians 5:11-31; John 6:51-58
A riot of discussion inevitably follows the commentary of Ephesians 5
(which is about the relationship of husbands and wives)
But you need to read it to see what it actually says:

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind.

There is much misinterpretation of this passage.
And we can see that misinterpretation often is caused by self-serving attitudes
rather than a balanced or comprehensive reading of the text.
Indeed the first rule of any scriptural reflection should be 

to make sure that you have read what goes before
and also read what comes after.
The Bible is not simply a collection of disconnected phrases
which you can pull out like a magical promise box
and presume that the words will speak to your particular situation
at that particular time.
We often want it to be like that...how easy would it be
to just have God on tap
and pull him out with a certainty
even though this may all be a bit cryptic.

[There are plenty of stories that give the lie to this...unfortunately
many people will tell you how, when in trouble, they flicked their Bible open
and there was the answer.
As I say, we may want God to be like that,
but it doesn't seem to make sense.
Why would we have a whole narrative Bible, of most complex and sophisticated story, poetry, worship and theology
if all God had wanted us to have was a collection of random phrases?]

What we are often doing is trying to find an easy way of dealing with a complex situation.
We want a quick fix---when what we need to do is to tread carefully
and think intelligently.

The first reading (about Solomon's choice of wisdom over riches and power) reminds us
that we are easily seduced by fear and greed
and often less than honest about our own motivations.

If we take more than a cursory look at the Ephesians passage, too,
we see that it is more than just an instruction for wives to do what their husbands tell them to.
Indeed that looks like a misreading if we think carefully about it.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. ......Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

This is about a mutual submission, 
not the dominance of one party over another.
Indeed, I often joke with marriage couples....that women only "have to be subject to their husbands" while men have to love as Christ loved the Church
to my mind that means dying!

In reality as we read the whole passage we see that there is a toing and froing
which reminds us that
there is a mutuality about this relationship
in which husband and wife should be subject to each other....and both should love the other to death!!!
This, to my mind, is the reality (and experience) of marriage.
But is complex, rather than simplistic.

Wisdom vs Power and MoneyWe read, too, in the reading about Solomon
that this legendary king is confronted with a choice
...as all politicians are....
what will we pursue in the exercise of our office.
The reading of the Solomon story shows us that if we trust the knowledge of God
if we prefer wisdom to selfish gain
then the other things will fall into their correct perspective.
This, of course, gladdens the heart of the godly person
but also exposes that much about modern day politics and life is distorted and untrue.


The Gospel reminds us 
that even though 
Jesus
is telling us that we should stick with the stuff that is close to our hearts
as the food we eat is to our day to day life
and relationships;
like the relationship and life he invites us to have with him.
That so often we would prefer to not engage with that
choosing rather to be theological or theoretical.
It is not that theology and theory are unimportant
they have their place.
BUT principally and primarily
we are called to feed on Jesus
and be as concerned with him day to day as we are about food and our ordinary concerns.

As you think about your eating 

in the last week

what does it tell you...as an image

about the quality of the relationship that God wants with you and me

The words 

-- intimacy and reality

spring to mind for me.

-- Nourishment and nurture

-- time to be with others

are all important things to recognise as

"godly imperatives"

Is your spiritual life

as good as your dining-life?

I hope so!

Feeding on Christ

The readings for Sunday August 12 2012 include 2 Samuel 18:5-33*; Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:17-5:2*; John 6:35-51*.  It is the 11th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19)

Family birthdays are always great occasions.
Our immediate extended family now has over fifty people on both sides, and covers four generational groups
so when we get together there is already a level of energy and excitement which needs to be harnessed and enjoyed.
As in these weeks we explore the image that Jesus uses of Feeding on His Body
we are invited to make the connection 
that eating and drinking,
the powerful human communion 
which we enjoy every day,
--- sometimes small and private,
and at other times, like birthdays,
is bubbly, exuberant and overflowing with excitement----
All these ideas usefully enliven our understanding
of what "feeding on Jesus" might mean.

Think back, for example,  in this week on how you have eaten.
What is breakfast like?
Have there been special meals?
Are you hurried or aware at meal times?
With whom have you shared your meals?
And how has that sharing gone?
What does our eating say about our life?

The next question then is to use our day to day experience
to ask the same question about our relationship with Jesus.
Are we as aware of Jesus in our lives
as the tomatoes we have eaten in the last few days?

We make a mistake 
if we think that this seemingly light or humorous reflection
is unimportant or trivial.
Neither eating, 
nor our Godly relationship 
are trivial.
A birthday party reminds us that these sorts of times of celebration 
are very important in our life together.
The dynamics that flow so abundantly
which include our love, joy and celebration
when we gather with those who we know well 
and to whom we are bound by family and friendship;
and also tension, unresolved hurt, anger and resentment
are the very substance of the gospel's operation.

It is no mistake, too, 
that the common celebration of Christians is
Holy Communion
a commemoration of a meal.
And we are invited to bring all our experience of eating together
to our understanding of life.
When we gather and proclaim 
that we feed on Christ
all the imagery of our eating together
comes to bear.
And just as we are thrilled 
to feel and know we are  really and fully alive when we eat together
so we discover that in sharing this meal
we encounter Jesus
and it enlivens us
and we are changed.

And so we pray:

BREAD OF HEAVEN
ON YOU WE FEED
FOR YOUR FLESH IS MEAT INDEED.
ALL OUR WANTS AND NEEDS ARE MET IN CHRIST.
LET US FEAST ON YOU, LIVING AND TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. AMEN

Deep reflections

Readings for Sunday 5 August 2012 might include 2 Sam 11:26-12:13, Psalm 51:1-12, Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35 (Proper 18-10th Sunday after Pentecost)

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 attentionWe 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 overcomebut 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 alwaysSometimes we glimpse what God is offering us
and long for it.
And we desperately want...not miracles or signs...but life

Get the focus rightIf 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, prayer and food

Readings for Sunday 29th July (9th 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 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 out 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 abundanceThe 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 remian 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 demands 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.

Great expectations

(this is one a number of pictures I took last year  of the rather excellent model in the Israel Museum of the city of Jerusalem as it would have been before AD 70...when the Temple was destroyed)

Readings for this Sunday in the Lectionary for Sunday 22nd July 2012 can include 2 Samuel 7:1-14, Psalm 89:21-38, Ephesians 2:11-22 & Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

This is probably a "Trinitarian" sermon...three in one. Any way, food for thought

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 personal 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 or easily 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.