Trusting and hoping

Readings for Sunday 4 the December 2011 -  Advent 2 can include Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8

I trust that you are all making progress with your Christmas presents.
I once put to my children
an idea that comes out of such agencies as  the Christmas Bowl
Let's give each other presents of about $5-$10
and then each give $20 to another cause.
They looked aghast...well if not aghast then askance!
Another hair-brained, unrealistic idea of that priest
we are (un)fortunate enough to have as a father.
The youngest one got it...
...enraptured with caring for a girl in Tanzania
through a school project
it is easy to get her to understand
that $10 spent on her
what might otherwise be ---another Barby, a fluffy pen, cheeky knickers....or whatever
is here today and gone tomorrow!

But for the little Tanzanian girl
it can do so much more.
She was taken by the notion
that in Africa the wealthy send their children
to Europe as soon as they can
and so there is a "brain drain"
(I am impressed that a 12 year old
can get this quite difficult concept.)

Understanding that by supporting strong education
in Tanzania
then most people will stay if they can.
And thus halt the brain drain
This stuff is fairly self-evident
if and when you think about it!
Comfort and Trust
Today we are invited 
to reflect on the theme of Trust.
There is presented for us
an image of a God who we can trust
Amidst all our troubles and difficulties
and no one escapes this...
we trust that God will care for us and sustain us.
The readings tell us that God willBring us back...we can trust God to restore us
that God is ...patient with us
we often think God is slow
but God is  actually patient
That God will empower us with the Holy Spirit
Even John the Baptist says, " Don't be like me!"
rather open yourself to the one who comes after
and he will pour out his Holy Spirit on you..

These are promises in which we are invited to trust.

• God cares for us
• God is patient with us
• God empowers us

In our life
I hope that you might see here
that what is being offered is a chance to be real and genuine.
It is not unlike 
getting the Christmas present idea right.
There is nothing wrong with presents
there is an issue about proportion, 
and about what is important.
We can trust God to give us the right gifts,
but can we trust ourselves!
Can the world trust us to deliver
on God's behalf?
or have we been distracted by the trivial, the unimportant?

God cares for us and brings us home how do we care for others
and restore them
How do we act as agents of reconciliation
and bringers of peace?

God is patient with us have we given up on people,
have we stopped talking to someone who has hurt us
or have we settled for second-best in our relationships

God empowers us has our relationship with God
gone stale
do we allow ourselves to be open to the Holy Spirit
do we pray with vigour and with power
We can trust God
and we need to be trusted as God agents.

Looking forward

Readings for the First Sunday in Advent , November 27 2011. These can include:  Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37


Some Christians are fascinated by the so-called
Second Coming of Christ.
This doesn't surprise me
and in a way it is good to keep one's eye on the ball
.....or perhaps to realise that the ball is still in play....




God's work is not yet finished.
And though we see and understand
that everything that is necessary to be done,
in order to reconcile
humanity and God,
has been done
by Jesus on the Cross
and through his resurrection
And God continues to pour out the Spirit so that this work of salvation
may be taken up by us
and that we may live the new life,
yet there is also a sense that this is not all complete;

it has to be worked through and made real.

A weak analogy is that it is like a house that has been built
at great expense and with great care.
It is the house of the future.
Indeed one of my friends was telling me only the other day
about such a house that she is building in the next couple of years.
It will replace an old house
and will be designed to cope with all sorts of modern needs,
not the least of which is that she is older
and her lifestyle has changed.
It will no doubt be executed
and there will be a day when we will be able to say
...this house is complete....
and yet in a real sense it is only the beginning
....the ball is still in play...
the house has yet to be lived in
and that will open it up
to a whole new range of possibilities.
As yet undreamt of.
As yet unrealised. 


The coming of the kingdom
When Jesus talks about the coming of the kingdom
he talks about it in range of ways.
At times it is as if the kingdom is something that will be instituted
at the end of time
and yet he also says "the kingdom of God is amongst you"
He can also tell his disciples to pray
"your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven"
While the house has been built
it is yet to be experienced
and lived in
...the ball is still in play.....
we need to keep our eye on the ball.
Advent and Christmas don't so much point us to the second coming
but rather warn us that we should be alert, and awake
to the possibility of Christ's kingdom here on earth.

We have the heavenly image, the ideal if you like,
of what it might be like when the heavenly kingdom is realised
and Christ will come with shouts of acclamation.
But are we also alert to the signs of the kingdom
that are in our midst.
Are we sufficiently awake to see that there are opportunities
to proclaim the kingdom
right where we are today?

Small possibilities
I am reminded of a wonderful poem
that our life is worked out in the small stuff rather than the big stuff

Answers


I keep my answers small and keep them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bulwark to my fear.


The huge abstractions I keep from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.


But the big answers clamoured to be moved
Into my life. Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.


Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, I still hear
Big answers striving for their overthrow


And all the great conclusions coming near.

Elizabeth Jennings

This kingdom that we are called to experience
is at least as much in the small answers
for us
as it is in the big stuff.
In a real sense, sometimes the "big stuff"
threatens the small things
and yet, for most of us, for most of the time
it is the small answers
that are the authentic ones.


The kingdom of God is close at hand.
It will be in our care for our children
and the care that we take in our relationships
the gentleness and the kindness
the generosity of spirit
and the day to day forgiveness
that God's kingdom will be known
on earth as it is in heaven.
We need at the very least to pay attention
and be awake for the coming of the kingdom.


Let us not be too distracted
looking for the stars
that begin to fall
(which Jesus tells us is not something that should essentially concern us)
but rather pay attention to our own little patch of earth.
And live in the house in which we find ourselves;
it is at least
in paying attention to the process of living that we
may discover the purpose and meaning
of this place where we dwell
and that God's kingdom
is in our midst.
This is our Advent Work!

The Reign of Christ---give us a break

 

We call this day Pentecost 23, but more importantly (being the last Sunday of the Church's year) it is the Feast of Christ the KingReadings for Sunday 20 November 2011 can be taken from Ezekiel 34, Psalms 95, & 100, Ephesians 1 & Matthew 25:31-46

As time goes on I become increasingly more republican!

So, the feast of Christ the King, (strangely promoted, perhaps even invented, in that most republican of countries, the USA.)
rather goes against the grain

But it has important themes for us to attend to
Even if we do have demythologise the language of monarchy!!

We get the idea...Christ is to us 
like the King is to his subjects
We need to not see this in a brutal way
but rather to embrace the idea
that we are the willing/contented subjects
of King Jesus.
The Lord of the Cross.
We probably only need
to consider the Gospel (here)
which is pretty direct.
"In so far as you cared for the needy
you are caring for me!"
and then the converse
(perhaps more chastening)
"Ignore the needy,
and you ignore me"
More specific
We are directed to the hungry
the thirsty
the stranger
the naked
the sick
the prisoner.
This list might seem almost arbitrary
but it bears some consideration.


THE HUNGRY...there are indeed people who just don't have food
How can we respond to them
Is it through Anglicare, or World Vision
or simply by bringing food to church each Sunday for St Mary Magdalene's and Beacon
THE THIRSTY...thirst is is often an allegory for those 
who have deep spiritual thirst
Are you attending to your own spiritual thirst?
Are you helping those who come to find an answer to their deep spiritual questions ( why is this happening to me?, Where is God? I feel purposeless!)  Do we take these questions seriously?
THE STRANGER
Do we miss the miss "the stranger" in our midst?
Those who are lonely, those who have no friends
those who need to be connected to other people?
THE NAKED
It would be easy to think of the naked ...sexually
But I suspect there is something more important here.
Those who have absolutely no protection
against the the pressures of the world
(just as the naked have no clothes).
Can you think of anyone who is so vulnerable?
THE SICK
Christians have deep concern for the sick
I want them to be well
and I want to pray really hard for them.
This is the work of the kingdom
Fervent prayer and care for the sick
THE PRISONER
It is perhaps the prisoner who interests me
We are, I think, talking about those who are
actually in jail
But also those who are in jails of their own making
or who have been trapped by circumstances
..the jails of addiction, poverty, or accident
We don't have to think terribly figuratively 
to realise that many of the world's people
live in jails that are not actually prisons


What then we hear is the simple message of Christ the King
Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty,
welcome the stranger,
clothe the naked,
release the prisoner.
Easy said
our faith commitment .....
...attend to this important stuff

Under the bed

Readings for Sunday November 13 (Proper 28-Pentecost 22): First reading and Psalm:Judges 4:1-7: Psalm 123: Second reading:1 Thessalonians 5:1-1: Gospel:Matthew 25:14-30


The Gospel reading today seems a little culturally curious
It has hard words which are perhaps a little too redolent of the harsh times in which we live :
"Those who have nothing will even have what they do have taken from them!"
How, might we ask, can we take from people who have nothing?
There are a couple of interesting points:
This is a parable about life in God's kingdom. 
The image/idea is that God has equipped us to live life
and we are to get on with it.
There is a sense in which we have been left to get on with it.
(This of course is only an image and we are not left alone)
But following the image
we see that some of us have 5 talents, some 2 talents
and some (probably most of us) have 1


The word talent here is a unit of money
rather than the way we often use it
to describe our personbal giftedness
As in Australia's Got Talent!
Why is this so? isn't it rather unjust?
No, I don't think so.
It's rather sort of how things are.
Some seem to have a lot of resources
some a modest amount
and some only a bit.
There is a point here: No one has no resources
We should remember this.
We sometimes think, that we are without any capabilities,
resources or gifts.
In terms of this parable
God has equipped every baptised person
(with the Holy Spirit)
to enable us to communicate/be Christ to the world.


THIS WEEK Consciously ask what am I to do?
What can I do? For Christ, to be Christ, to share Christ
(If we are tempted to think nothing then think again!)


Developing this a little further...
The condemnation that is reserved in this parable
for the person who has only one talent
and then takes it and hides it under the bed
is this
There is essentially only one failing
about what we do with our giftedness
and that is not that we are not as gifted as Mother Teresa,
It is not that we should have been a missionary, or a nurse,
a priest or a doctor.
It is not that we can look at someone else and see they are so much better than we are, musical, practical, influential
.....that is sort of how things are
Perhaps we will leave easier and better lives if we just accept that.
But the failing is, that in recognising that some are more gifted than we are,
we make the mistake of thinking either

• that we are not gifted at all or
• that we should leave it up to others

Each of us is called to use our talents
whether great or small


So, this week, the question is not:
Why am I not as holy as someone else? Or why am I not as gifted?
BUT what can I do with what I have been given?
Hiding our talents under the bed is not an option.

Did you hear the one about?

Readings for Sunday 6 November 2011, 21st Sunday after Pentecost --thoughts about Joshua 24, 1 Thess 4:13-18, Matt 25:1-13
We are now moving on
These last few weeks are called in the Church of England, our sister church,
Kingdom season
I think this is a very useful reminder
that what we are about
is God's work
is establishing the kingdom.
we are not just meandering around
God is working a purpose out as year succeeds to year.
And that purpose is the kingdom which proclaims
Good News
to the poor 
the imprisoned
those in need of healing
the blind 
the crippled.
As years go on I realise that these 'categories' 
are both figurative and actual
...there are many imprisoned who are not in gaol...
but that should not let us escape the reality
that there are people actually in gaols!


So any way the Gospel reading !!!!


It almost reads like a joke
Did you hear the one about the bridesmaids 
who got locked out of the reception?
You know they  spent the best part of the last two years 
preparing for this wedding
and then  they got locked out of the reception venue!!!!


The point?
Don't forget what's important
For the Christian...
You know the Anglican Covenant discussion
may be important
but there are people in jail!


For the Australian
The political fascination
of parties that hate each other
...there are people flooding to our shores 
whose lives have been devastated
by greed, rape, poverty
famine.
for God's sake!!!!
And I use that expression advisedly

On a scale of one to ten ...how holy are you?

If celebrating All Saints Day either on 30th October, or 6 November readings can be taken from Sirach/Ecclesiaticus 44:1-15; Rev 7:9-17;Matthew 5:1-12 We are privileged in our parish to have a Church dedicated under the title of  All Hallows Though it is often mispronounced - All Hollows I sometimes wonder if people think we are shallow or empty but we are not And people often make the mistake  that All Hallows means "All Ghosts" or "All Spirits" because of the connection with Halloween (why would you so dedicate a church?) the word Hallows actually means Saints. (and the 31 October-Halloween connection is because it is the Eve of All Saints Day -Nov 1 ie Hallows Evening...but I digress) Now Anglicans love All Saints Day (November 1) and I think it is one of the series of Saints Days  which is a reminder of what it is like to be  God's person. Because that's what Saint or Hallowed  means In the early days of the Church (eg when the New Testament was written) that's what Christians where called  Saints...or Hagioi which is Greek for you guessed it Hallows!!! All the baptised are Hallowed (made holy) by God. Set apart not to be separate from the world but commissioned to bring people back to God. We are not always good at this but that's probably not the point As I think about Frances, and Maureen,  about Rob and Cathy, about Jenni and Bill,  about Kath and Cath,  and Peter and David, Elizabeth and Wendy Judy and Ailsa....you get the picture there are a number of us and quite a few who went before...Hilda and Doris,  Norm, Cec and Rex and Luke, Jean and Rene, Bill and Esme....too many to mention, many of whom I have never met personally. At times we must have pleased God with our faithfulness and at times tried God's patience At all times we have been loved by God and some times we have been able to show that love to other people. It is our absolute joy  to be under the title of the Apostle of Love St John and the title of All Hallows. May Jesus' name be praised in all we seek to be and do. Alleluia!

Hearing the word

A reflection I Thess 2:9-13 for Sunday 30 October 2011..The 20th Sunday after Pentecost

St Paul writes in this Sunday's epistle

 We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.


what does this mean to receive teaching as God's word?
Does it mean it is a sort of fairy story? Not quite earthed, and having an air of the supernatural about it?
We sometimes think of the Bible like that.
When we are really desperate and tempted to flick open the Bible 
in the hope we will get some inspiration
or direct message from God (hoping not to get Matthew 27:5)
we are rather treating the 'word of God' with a high level of contempt.


Paul uses the expression "God's word" 
to the matter of his own teaching
This is a useful thing for us to remember.
We actually think...teaching, and preaching
and perhaps counselling and other ministries
...are not just dumping of information
they are one of the ways (and I use that expression "one of the ways" advisedly)
that God communicates with us.
How different might this make the way we approach the Sunday sermon or homily
If God might be speaking to me 
then perhaps I need to try and listen
(I am bad at this myself...as a preacher I am not always good at listening to others)
So we should (and I try to) discipline ourselves to say
something like
"I expect to hear you today"
Even though the words, and the delivery, and the preacher themselves
may be flawed
That's not the point.
If God is speaking then perhaps we should try to listen.


Our Christian tradition suggests also
that we receive the Word of God through 
Bible reading
Christ speaking directly to us
In the way we encounter Christ in the poor, the marginalised and those who the world finds hard to love


Again I say: If God in Christ is speaking to us
Perhaps we should be listening.


THIS WEEK


When I heard preaching this week what one  thing did I hear? Did my anger, my carelessness, my apathy mean that I heard nothing?
It is not that God is not speaking. It is more likely that I am not listening


Can I read some Scripture this week...not as a magic trick...but take one of the Gospel stories and talk to Jesus about what he might be saying?


In my life what one thing has happened this week that would seem to me to be God speaking important words into my life?

Vision and insight

Some reflections on Deuteronomy 34 for Sunday 23rd October 2011

I am not quite sure where I will be when you read this 
(you could check my personal blog
and I may have had opportunity to post)
but as I will be in the Holy Lands 
I will be considerably closer to the place where Moses died  than I normally am!
Although this chapter at the end of Deuteronomy 
tells us that we are not sure where 
the actual burial place was
This gave rise rise to the legend that he was taken up (assumed) into heaven
but how are we to know such a wonderful thing?


The figure of Moses towers over the Exodus story 
and the journey to the Promised Land.
But he dies before the great journey is completed, 
and it is left to Joshua, his successor, 
to complete the work.


We often make the observation
that it is not about the destination
it is about the journey.


This is true of Jesus
Although Jesus' journey is to Calvary
he is only briefly there (three hours)
as dramatic and climactic as the Cross is
it is not the ultimate destination.


He moves to it, though it, and beyond it.


We need to think about our own lives not as destinations
but as journey.
It is easy for me to do this this week
because I am in the midst of 
what is, for a Christian,
a pilgrimage.
Not a destination 
but a journey.
I will leave Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem
the sea of Galilee, Cana and Capernaum
behind.
They will have been important places.
But as St Augustine puts it
our hearts are seeking not a shrine
or a country
but they are restless until they find their rest in you, God
A modern commentator observes
there is also a sense in which God is restless until
God finds us
Can we stop and let God catch us?


THIS WEEK
Where am I missing God in my ordinary life's journey?
Am I seduced by false destinations, or lost commitment 
to keep journeying
Can I find some way today to offer myself more wholly to Jesus.

Truth seeking

For Sunday 16 October...18th Sunday After Pentecost...thinking about Mtt 22:15-22

When I was a young man I liked nothing better than  to have a good argument about almost anything. It was hereditary. Both my father and his mother, my grandmother, were rather like this too.  I well remember my mother saying about her mother-in-law "She could argue black was white"
And so could I, and so could Dad. And we sometimes did.
As I have got older I have rather tired of this sort of "death by argument" sort of existence. These two little stories in Matthew 22 perhaps give us an insight into why this might be so.
First, they both have a sense that they are 'tricky'.
That is, although they seem fairly straight forward we soon discover they are not.
"Is it lawful to pay taxes?" Should immediately alert us to this
In our own country as soon as we started calling the process to price carbon not a charge but a "tax" people became wary.
Although we may like the benefits of taxation, none of us likes paying it.
In reality it looks like the questioners are not interested in the answer. They are trying to trap Jesus.
If he say "Yes it is lawful to pay tax" then the people will hate him. If he says "No, it's not lawful!" then he may be hauled before the courts
We may have arguments, we may ask questions.
But there is often a deep seated hidden agenda.
I suspect my grandmother, father and I really liked beating people into submission.
Not so much about the subject, as about power.


The second story is intriguing the 21st century person is left with a sense of the unreality of this question...Who will you be married to after you are dead? It is a a question about a religious divide which we don't fully understand...again 
it is rather like the political arguments of today
no one is being convinced
but that's not what they are trying to do
they are attempting to expose the foolishness of their opposition
rather than get at the truth.
Mostly when I discuss this passage, people look blankly
it is clear WE all think that as interesting as this all might be we have moved on!
Jesus, in entering into the discussion, only seems to make it more ridiculous.
I suspect he is exposing the futility of it all by taking it to the logical extreme.


A reflection
As important as it might be to correct error
we are often self-deceptive about the way we question and debate.
What looks important for Jesus is not the sort of logical niceties
and the technical merits of an argument
but rather the character of relationship
St John says (15:13) Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends
This is one of those cornerstone verses
The gospel in a nutshell
Love is not shown by pointing out the error of their ways
or by winning arguments
But by self-sacrificial service 
This is the message of the Cross.
It's often easier to argue
and may even be abusive.
It is far harder to love

Who get to be a saint? -who get invited to the wedding?

Lectionary Readings for Sunday 9th October include Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-6,19-23; Philippians 4:1-9 & Matt 22:1-14

No sermon I have heard about saints in the last 50 years
has failed to remind the modern Christian
that "We are all saints"
As we look at this parable (Matt.22:1-14) of the wedding feast
(read it online here)
We might ask ourselves what Jesus says
in this in answer to the question
"Who gets to be a saint?"





I do

In many ways the last line of this parable reminds us of the inescapable reality
"Many are called!"
God does not hold back on his offer of fulness of life.
So, as we ask, Who gets to be a saint?
We can at least answer:Everyone gets the opportunity."Many are called!"
I am fortunate in that I can recognise
that there has never been a moment of my life
when that has not been true.
Less than a month old, I was walked across the road
to St Peter's Church, Kells
and I was baptised.

Baptism, in this sense, is a reply to the wedding invitation
that this parable is talking about.
The invitation to participate in a relationship
with the living God
which is called "eternal life"

(I sometimes think we understand that term better
if we say fulness of life or abundant life)This gift is so abundant and free
..it is truly gracious, freely offered...
that we can and should sayMany are called...perhaps we could addavailable for allWhat we also need to remember and add
is that this version ends with the words 
Few are chosenThis process of selection
is not a sort of
whimsical game that God plays with us
it is, as these parables demonstrate,
also a process of self-selection

They do

The invitation is extended
but some, even many,
choose to not come
Two things happen
as a consequence:
those who have heard the invitation
but who choose not to come
are excluded!
And those who we don't think are the ones
who should be chosen
actually get the chance.
In historical terms
Jesus might be addressing
his own people
Pharisees and Saducees
who hear his teaching and yet
they fail to turn back to God.
We see then he turns
to social outcasts
poor tradespeople
fishermen, and anxious young men.
More than that
there are the tax collectors, the lepers
and the prostitutes.
These people with empty, desperate lives
are the ones who hear
and receive Jesus gladly.
As we reflect on religious history
this sort of pattern has often repeated itself.
In our terms (as of old)
it is the people who have always known
the Gospel
whose parents walked them over the road
to be baptised.
They have heard
and in many cases
rejected.
This parable might remind us
that we have to live with that
as a reality.
It might also remind us that
when we try to focus our energies
at bringing people in
it is to the highways, and the byways
we should be going.
Can we honestly critique our parish life
and sayWe are geared to welcoming
those who are usually rejected?I think not

I don't

There is thena salutary warning for those of us who are "in"
it is not a game.
It is a genuine invitation
which requires a genuine response.
If we think it will be about -game playing-
dressing up, social nicety or pretense
then we are mistaken.
We are to be clothed properly.
We are to set about our job.
It is this that we see the saints doing in their different ways.
Whether it be through faithful hours spent caring for the poor,
or a diuligent devotion to bringing up children,
it may be simply a commitment to live
a decent and honourable Christian life
as best we can.
It is not particularly about coming to church,
it is about how we live our life.
This is a serious mistake we often make
with these parables of the kingdom.
We some how seem to think
that they are about our involvement in church.
That is not the case.
It is about how we choose to live life.Not about how oftyen we receive communion
but whether we practice forgiveness
and care for the poor.
Not about how much we give
but about our relationship with GodWill our life show that we take this invitation seriously?
Take some stock this week,
ask a telling question...
you know one of those tricky ones..if I was on trial for being a christian
would there be enough evidence to convict me!?
Would the jury find love, mercy, forgiveness.
Reaching out to the poor, standing alongside the weak,
caring for the sick and the lonely.
It is not a game.
Do we say yes to the invitation
to eternal life?
Do we say no, to the hypocrisy of pretence?
Nothing less will do.