The World of Rev Ken
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Pentecost 3 2005.
June 5th.
Genesis 12.1-9, Ps 33.1-12, Romans 4.13-25, Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26.
I can imagine Jesus using sarcasm.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. `For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
It’s a line made for sarcasm, because it’s a line that works on different levels. Simplistically, it is reassuring those who think they’re righteous that they are indeed righteous and are correct to think that way. I mean, they knew Jesus didn’t come to heal them, because they don’t need it, do they. They knew, I imagine, that they were ok, healthy, righteous. Jesus knew that they wouldn’t receive the Gospel, because they were full of the knowledge that they didn’t need it. The unclean, the outsiders, the tax collectors and sinners, the sick and suffering, they would receive it. Because the Gospel joins them to the Kingdom of God, which is based not on a plethora of laws and regulations, but on those 2 great commandments, that say nothing about tax collectors being unclean and menstruating women being untouchable. In the Kingdom of God, they can belong.
Tax collectors were untouchable because they were doing a rather distasteful job. It wasn’t just that they were collecting taxes which people have always begrudged paying. It was that they were collecting taxes for an occupying enemy of the Judean state, and to make money for themselves to live on they had to collect more than the amount that was required by the Romans. This extra was theirs to keep, and I’m sure that many of you will know that already. The woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years, a chronic gynaecological problem, was unclean under Jewish law. Leviticus 15.19-30 spells it out. In essence, it says that a woman who is menstruating is unclean, and is to be shut out from the community for 7 days, and everyone who she touches, or who touches her is also to be shut out, and everything she touches is also unclean. It almost sounds laughable, a bit like the old lower primary school “girl’s germs” thing, but it was taken very seriously. This passage prescribes that on the eighth day the woman shall take two doves or two young pigeons and take them to the priest to make a burnt offering to God for atonement. That is, to make up for her sin of bleeding which is a natural part of her God created state!!!! I hasten to add that this is a characteristic of many old religions – the prophet Mohammed has a bit to say about it in the Quran, for example.
Its interesting that the in our reading this morning episode of the raising of the girl and the healing of the bleeding woman come straight after Jesus says this – “Go and learn what this means – “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. This is very significant.
Sacrifice is for atonement. In almost every culture in which it has happened, it has been done in order to make up for sins, to appease an angry god, to extract a blessing from a god. It’s about correcting wrongs. In our society, when someone commits a crime they are punished. They sacrifice their freedom, or money, or time, in order to make up for the wrongdoing. It doesn’t correct it, but it is supposed to make up for it. The sacrificing of two doves then is supposed to be atonement, something to make up for her sin. Does this seem a bit unfair to you?
It looks like it seems unfair to God as well.
This sentence ““I desire mercy, not sacrifice” comes from the book of Hosea. It is God speaking of an unrepentant Israel, who offer sacrifices yet do not turn from the ways that go against God’s love for God’s people. It is saying that the sacrifice is not important, indeed that it is not wanted by God, and perhaps won’t have the desired effect of exonerating the people of Israel. God is saying that mercy is what God desires for the people, that atonement for sin requires people to change their ways. I guess that’s the thing about sacrifice – there is an attitude at times that once you have paid the price, that’s over and done with, and you can do it again, and pay the price again. It’s almost like paying a toll. Do the crime, serve the time, then get out and do it again. But mercy is something much more radical than that.
Mercy breaks into the cycle of sin and sacrifice. Mercy makes all people clean – not perfect, I hasten to add, but forgiven, included. Mercy means loving all. That doesn’t mean we should empty the prisons as such, but it does mean that we should treat prisoners a bit better. And it means for this woman who was bleeding for 12 years that she has suffered enough.
God doesn’t want us to suffer. No matter what we read in the Old Testament, God doesn’t want us to suffer. Most of all, God doesn’t want us to suffer the pain of separation, both from God and from society. To appease the desire to make sacrifice for sin, God gave his only Son. Humans sacrificed him, and in this, all believers are made whole, are granted mercy. No one has to sacrifice any more pigeons, least of all those for whom their only sin is to menstruate, and those for whom their only sin is to be afflicted with ill health. Jesus didn’t berate the bleeding woman for touching him and making Him unclean. What did he say to her? He said “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” She is whole, she is free from her affliction, she is restored to society. She is healed in mind, body and spirit. She is one of God’s people.
There is another symbolic action to all this as well. The blood. Blood, to the Jewish people, was the life of a creature. Leviticus 17.14 says that the life of a creature is its blood. Perhaps the bleeding that this woman has experienced can be seen symbolically as her losing her life, becoming less alive. On Stargate Atlantis, a science fiction television series, there are creatures known as the Wraith, who feed on their victim’s life force. This feeding causes the victim to age in a matter of seconds as their life force is drained. We know that when life is tough, it’s not just hard on the body. It saps the energy. Grieving people will often feel tired. Depressed people don’t have energy for anything, sometimes staying in bed for days on end. There is no zest for life, no energy, no life force, no soul. Jesus, in healing this woman, in restoring her to life in the community, has stopped this draining of life. He has restored her to life, just like Jairus’s daughter, the 12 year old girl, who seems to have died. Both of these women are raised from death, restored. Both have a second chance. Jesus gave them back their souls. And the tax collectors – well, imagine doing a job, living a life where everyone hated you, a job that you hated yourself, but did it because it made you money and helped you support your family. Perhaps some of you have been there, I know I have. It sucks the life out of you. Even a job you enjoy is like that at times, especially when there just doesn’t seem to be anytime for anything but work. But Jesus, in being with us in the midst of that, shows us the important things, the things we could all do well to remember, those things that are life giving. Family, friends, recreation, rest. Eating a meal with others, being social, being alive. When we die, we won’t regret not spending enough time working. No, what we will regret is not spending enough time enjoying life, being with our loved ones, having fun. Reclaiming our lost souls, our lost life.
God has given us back our lives, just as he gave back the lives of the bleeding woman and Jairus’s daughter. God has done this through Jesus Christ. Its there, Gods mercy, and it’s offered to us. Can we now show God’s mercy in kind to others? Can we be Jesus to the sick, to help others to receive from God their souls, their lives? You betcha! Praise the Lord who gives us life, and saves us from death. Alleluia!
June 5th.
Genesis 12.1-9, Ps 33.1-12, Romans 4.13-25, Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26.
I can imagine Jesus using sarcasm.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. `For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
It’s a line made for sarcasm, because it’s a line that works on different levels. Simplistically, it is reassuring those who think they’re righteous that they are indeed righteous and are correct to think that way. I mean, they knew Jesus didn’t come to heal them, because they don’t need it, do they. They knew, I imagine, that they were ok, healthy, righteous. Jesus knew that they wouldn’t receive the Gospel, because they were full of the knowledge that they didn’t need it. The unclean, the outsiders, the tax collectors and sinners, the sick and suffering, they would receive it. Because the Gospel joins them to the Kingdom of God, which is based not on a plethora of laws and regulations, but on those 2 great commandments, that say nothing about tax collectors being unclean and menstruating women being untouchable. In the Kingdom of God, they can belong.
Tax collectors were untouchable because they were doing a rather distasteful job. It wasn’t just that they were collecting taxes which people have always begrudged paying. It was that they were collecting taxes for an occupying enemy of the Judean state, and to make money for themselves to live on they had to collect more than the amount that was required by the Romans. This extra was theirs to keep, and I’m sure that many of you will know that already. The woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years, a chronic gynaecological problem, was unclean under Jewish law. Leviticus 15.19-30 spells it out. In essence, it says that a woman who is menstruating is unclean, and is to be shut out from the community for 7 days, and everyone who she touches, or who touches her is also to be shut out, and everything she touches is also unclean. It almost sounds laughable, a bit like the old lower primary school “girl’s germs” thing, but it was taken very seriously. This passage prescribes that on the eighth day the woman shall take two doves or two young pigeons and take them to the priest to make a burnt offering to God for atonement. That is, to make up for her sin of bleeding which is a natural part of her God created state!!!! I hasten to add that this is a characteristic of many old religions – the prophet Mohammed has a bit to say about it in the Quran, for example.
Its interesting that the in our reading this morning episode of the raising of the girl and the healing of the bleeding woman come straight after Jesus says this – “Go and learn what this means – “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. This is very significant.
Sacrifice is for atonement. In almost every culture in which it has happened, it has been done in order to make up for sins, to appease an angry god, to extract a blessing from a god. It’s about correcting wrongs. In our society, when someone commits a crime they are punished. They sacrifice their freedom, or money, or time, in order to make up for the wrongdoing. It doesn’t correct it, but it is supposed to make up for it. The sacrificing of two doves then is supposed to be atonement, something to make up for her sin. Does this seem a bit unfair to you?
It looks like it seems unfair to God as well.
This sentence ““I desire mercy, not sacrifice” comes from the book of Hosea. It is God speaking of an unrepentant Israel, who offer sacrifices yet do not turn from the ways that go against God’s love for God’s people. It is saying that the sacrifice is not important, indeed that it is not wanted by God, and perhaps won’t have the desired effect of exonerating the people of Israel. God is saying that mercy is what God desires for the people, that atonement for sin requires people to change their ways. I guess that’s the thing about sacrifice – there is an attitude at times that once you have paid the price, that’s over and done with, and you can do it again, and pay the price again. It’s almost like paying a toll. Do the crime, serve the time, then get out and do it again. But mercy is something much more radical than that.
Mercy breaks into the cycle of sin and sacrifice. Mercy makes all people clean – not perfect, I hasten to add, but forgiven, included. Mercy means loving all. That doesn’t mean we should empty the prisons as such, but it does mean that we should treat prisoners a bit better. And it means for this woman who was bleeding for 12 years that she has suffered enough.
God doesn’t want us to suffer. No matter what we read in the Old Testament, God doesn’t want us to suffer. Most of all, God doesn’t want us to suffer the pain of separation, both from God and from society. To appease the desire to make sacrifice for sin, God gave his only Son. Humans sacrificed him, and in this, all believers are made whole, are granted mercy. No one has to sacrifice any more pigeons, least of all those for whom their only sin is to menstruate, and those for whom their only sin is to be afflicted with ill health. Jesus didn’t berate the bleeding woman for touching him and making Him unclean. What did he say to her? He said “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” She is whole, she is free from her affliction, she is restored to society. She is healed in mind, body and spirit. She is one of God’s people.
There is another symbolic action to all this as well. The blood. Blood, to the Jewish people, was the life of a creature. Leviticus 17.14 says that the life of a creature is its blood. Perhaps the bleeding that this woman has experienced can be seen symbolically as her losing her life, becoming less alive. On Stargate Atlantis, a science fiction television series, there are creatures known as the Wraith, who feed on their victim’s life force. This feeding causes the victim to age in a matter of seconds as their life force is drained. We know that when life is tough, it’s not just hard on the body. It saps the energy. Grieving people will often feel tired. Depressed people don’t have energy for anything, sometimes staying in bed for days on end. There is no zest for life, no energy, no life force, no soul. Jesus, in healing this woman, in restoring her to life in the community, has stopped this draining of life. He has restored her to life, just like Jairus’s daughter, the 12 year old girl, who seems to have died. Both of these women are raised from death, restored. Both have a second chance. Jesus gave them back their souls. And the tax collectors – well, imagine doing a job, living a life where everyone hated you, a job that you hated yourself, but did it because it made you money and helped you support your family. Perhaps some of you have been there, I know I have. It sucks the life out of you. Even a job you enjoy is like that at times, especially when there just doesn’t seem to be anytime for anything but work. But Jesus, in being with us in the midst of that, shows us the important things, the things we could all do well to remember, those things that are life giving. Family, friends, recreation, rest. Eating a meal with others, being social, being alive. When we die, we won’t regret not spending enough time working. No, what we will regret is not spending enough time enjoying life, being with our loved ones, having fun. Reclaiming our lost souls, our lost life.
God has given us back our lives, just as he gave back the lives of the bleeding woman and Jairus’s daughter. God has done this through Jesus Christ. Its there, Gods mercy, and it’s offered to us. Can we now show God’s mercy in kind to others? Can we be Jesus to the sick, to help others to receive from God their souls, their lives? You betcha! Praise the Lord who gives us life, and saves us from death. Alleluia!
Trinity Sunday 2005.
22nd May.
Exod 34.1-8, Song of 3 young men 29-34, 2 Corinthians 13.11-13, Matthew 28.16-20.
Traditionally this is the day when priests and ministers invite mission speakers, theological students, or people of the street to preach, because its just too hard a subject. Why is it difficult? I mean, you only have to look at all the books written on the subject of the Trinitarian God to see that it is a very difficult subject. It is difficult to preach on the subject of God the Trinity because God is difficult to describe. We just don’t have the words for an adequate description, we don’t have the imagination to picture the unimaginable. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. Because the danger in just accepting that God is indescribable, almost unimaginable, is that we will just accept the space that is left, and we wont try to find God anyway. We might just think it’s all too hard and give up.
Wine tasting. Have you ever wondered about all that stuff that gets written about oatmeal tannins and spicy oak? I mean, what do oatmeal tannins taste like, or smell like to someone who doesn’t eat them? Or drink them or smell them, what ever it is you do with them? It’s all very subjective, and it’s all very much reminiscent of our problem of describing God. Chocolate is the same. How can we tell someone else what chocolate tastes like? Or that old line “It tastes like chicken” that is applied to just about everything. Does God taste like chicken?
What we find, really, is that no matter what a wine critic writes, no matter what we are told chocolate or barbequed brown snake tastes, it’s no substitute for experiencing it ourselves. Ultimately that is the only way for us to know ourselves what a taste is. Or a smell, or a feeling for that matter. And it’s like that with God as well, in that in reaching out to God, in feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting God for ourselves, we can truly know God. And from that knowledge of God we can be the ones who facilitate the search that others are on for God, especially in the vacuum of God consciousness that we find ourselves in today.
And there is a vacuum of knowledge and experience of God. It’s not through lack of searching, I mean just about every celebrity or pop star is into some sort of spirituality, sparking lots of other people to get into new age fads, which seem to change quite often. People want the spirituality, the crave it, they need it. We are spiritual beings, it is what we were created for. Once upon a time, most people in our society had at least some sort of knowledge about Christianity. But with the increasing secularisation of society people often these days lack the core knowledge, the basics, the Christian reference points, that would give them the foundation and the basis from which to begin that search. It’s into this vacuum that we are directed, by the great commission in the Gospel.
The epistle reading this morning, from 2 Corinthians 13, has at the end of it that prayer that we call “The Grace”. This verse is the earliest known Trinitarian formula in the church. It would seem that very soon, within 30 years of Jesus death and resurrection, the Trinity is known and seems to be an intrinsic part of the faith of the fledgling church. Almost 2000 years later it still is. We affirm it in the words of the Nicene creed. That the Trinitarian faith has withstood the test of time, and has strengthened says a lot. It speaks volumes of the truth that it represents to the community that confesses it world wide. The importance of this is underlined in Jesus command to his disciples, and through them, to us, in the words of the great suggestion. It reminds us that we are taking to the world in the task of the great commission not some fly by night new age psycho mumbo jumbo, but something that is grounded in the history and experience of the church, and more, in the faith history of the Israelites, a faith that links with previous ages, and will link with future ages. This is what we use as the basis for our mission as stated in the Great commission, which is what I would like to look at now.
It’s very easy to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I mean, if you have an appropriate traditional church, you have people almost queuing up for their children to be baptised. Making disciples of people, well, that’s much harder.
Convincing people to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, disciples as we are disciples, takes a lot of work. Its not just teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught us, which is hard enough anyway. Its about incorporating newcomers, new disciples, into the community of faith, the family of Jesus. Being inclusive is the key. It was the key to Jesus’ work on this earth, the way he included people, the way his healings not only made a person healthy in body, it brought them back into society, back into community, healing their spirit. Making a disciple is a bit like a healing. In passing on the Gospel, we are helping God to work a miracle in them that will see them on a path to wholeness. We also need to include the new disciple in our community, so that the miracle has a good, safe and supportive place in which to work. New faith can often seem very strong, but it can also be very fragile. We need to be loving and supportive.
But there will also be changes for us. Inclusion has a cost. Just as getting a new Priest has seen some minor changes to things in the Parish, hopefully changes that people like, any new person joining the comunity will change something in the dynamics of a parish. This is something that needs to be thought of and acknowledged, and a commitment made before the planning day to work through when it happens. We have our planning day next week, and as Margaret Chittleborough will be preaching that morning at the one combined service at 9am, this is my last opportunity before then to speak to you as a whole in the context of a sermon. We are seeking to grow the parish. In the planning day process we will listen to God (I hope) and seek new ways to make disciples and include them in our community as equal members. Please think carefully about this during the week, the seriousness of this part of our task. Because if we invite people here and then get resentful of the changes, then we might as well withhold the invitations and plan closing the decommissioning service.
We have a message to proclaim. We have a God, the Trinitarian God, whose nature is a subject I think I’ve sidestepped quite nicely this morning. This Trinitarian God loves us, it is Gods nature to love us. We love God as well. We have people to reach and include. And we have our own faith to grow in the meantime. Thats a lot to do. So please pray about the planning day this week. Come to the service at 9am, and stay for the planning day. We have a lot to do in the coming years, and we need to get on with it. Just as synod got on with it yesterday in naming Bishop Jeff Driver as our new Archbishop, in a spirit of cooperation and prayerfulness.
The Lord be with you.
22nd May.
Exod 34.1-8, Song of 3 young men 29-34, 2 Corinthians 13.11-13, Matthew 28.16-20.
Traditionally this is the day when priests and ministers invite mission speakers, theological students, or people of the street to preach, because its just too hard a subject. Why is it difficult? I mean, you only have to look at all the books written on the subject of the Trinitarian God to see that it is a very difficult subject. It is difficult to preach on the subject of God the Trinity because God is difficult to describe. We just don’t have the words for an adequate description, we don’t have the imagination to picture the unimaginable. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. Because the danger in just accepting that God is indescribable, almost unimaginable, is that we will just accept the space that is left, and we wont try to find God anyway. We might just think it’s all too hard and give up.
Wine tasting. Have you ever wondered about all that stuff that gets written about oatmeal tannins and spicy oak? I mean, what do oatmeal tannins taste like, or smell like to someone who doesn’t eat them? Or drink them or smell them, what ever it is you do with them? It’s all very subjective, and it’s all very much reminiscent of our problem of describing God. Chocolate is the same. How can we tell someone else what chocolate tastes like? Or that old line “It tastes like chicken” that is applied to just about everything. Does God taste like chicken?
What we find, really, is that no matter what a wine critic writes, no matter what we are told chocolate or barbequed brown snake tastes, it’s no substitute for experiencing it ourselves. Ultimately that is the only way for us to know ourselves what a taste is. Or a smell, or a feeling for that matter. And it’s like that with God as well, in that in reaching out to God, in feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting God for ourselves, we can truly know God. And from that knowledge of God we can be the ones who facilitate the search that others are on for God, especially in the vacuum of God consciousness that we find ourselves in today.
And there is a vacuum of knowledge and experience of God. It’s not through lack of searching, I mean just about every celebrity or pop star is into some sort of spirituality, sparking lots of other people to get into new age fads, which seem to change quite often. People want the spirituality, the crave it, they need it. We are spiritual beings, it is what we were created for. Once upon a time, most people in our society had at least some sort of knowledge about Christianity. But with the increasing secularisation of society people often these days lack the core knowledge, the basics, the Christian reference points, that would give them the foundation and the basis from which to begin that search. It’s into this vacuum that we are directed, by the great commission in the Gospel.
The epistle reading this morning, from 2 Corinthians 13, has at the end of it that prayer that we call “The Grace”. This verse is the earliest known Trinitarian formula in the church. It would seem that very soon, within 30 years of Jesus death and resurrection, the Trinity is known and seems to be an intrinsic part of the faith of the fledgling church. Almost 2000 years later it still is. We affirm it in the words of the Nicene creed. That the Trinitarian faith has withstood the test of time, and has strengthened says a lot. It speaks volumes of the truth that it represents to the community that confesses it world wide. The importance of this is underlined in Jesus command to his disciples, and through them, to us, in the words of the great suggestion. It reminds us that we are taking to the world in the task of the great commission not some fly by night new age psycho mumbo jumbo, but something that is grounded in the history and experience of the church, and more, in the faith history of the Israelites, a faith that links with previous ages, and will link with future ages. This is what we use as the basis for our mission as stated in the Great commission, which is what I would like to look at now.
It’s very easy to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I mean, if you have an appropriate traditional church, you have people almost queuing up for their children to be baptised. Making disciples of people, well, that’s much harder.
Convincing people to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, disciples as we are disciples, takes a lot of work. Its not just teaching them to obey everything that Jesus taught us, which is hard enough anyway. Its about incorporating newcomers, new disciples, into the community of faith, the family of Jesus. Being inclusive is the key. It was the key to Jesus’ work on this earth, the way he included people, the way his healings not only made a person healthy in body, it brought them back into society, back into community, healing their spirit. Making a disciple is a bit like a healing. In passing on the Gospel, we are helping God to work a miracle in them that will see them on a path to wholeness. We also need to include the new disciple in our community, so that the miracle has a good, safe and supportive place in which to work. New faith can often seem very strong, but it can also be very fragile. We need to be loving and supportive.
But there will also be changes for us. Inclusion has a cost. Just as getting a new Priest has seen some minor changes to things in the Parish, hopefully changes that people like, any new person joining the comunity will change something in the dynamics of a parish. This is something that needs to be thought of and acknowledged, and a commitment made before the planning day to work through when it happens. We have our planning day next week, and as Margaret Chittleborough will be preaching that morning at the one combined service at 9am, this is my last opportunity before then to speak to you as a whole in the context of a sermon. We are seeking to grow the parish. In the planning day process we will listen to God (I hope) and seek new ways to make disciples and include them in our community as equal members. Please think carefully about this during the week, the seriousness of this part of our task. Because if we invite people here and then get resentful of the changes, then we might as well withhold the invitations and plan closing the decommissioning service.
We have a message to proclaim. We have a God, the Trinitarian God, whose nature is a subject I think I’ve sidestepped quite nicely this morning. This Trinitarian God loves us, it is Gods nature to love us. We love God as well. We have people to reach and include. And we have our own faith to grow in the meantime. Thats a lot to do. So please pray about the planning day this week. Come to the service at 9am, and stay for the planning day. We have a lot to do in the coming years, and we need to get on with it. Just as synod got on with it yesterday in naming Bishop Jeff Driver as our new Archbishop, in a spirit of cooperation and prayerfulness.
The Lord be with you.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Pentecost 2005
15th May.
Acts 2.1-21, Ps 104.26-36, 1 Corinthians 12.1-13, John 20.19-23.
Language is a powerful tool. As well as being the form of communication, it can be used in social ways. In particular, it can be used to include and exclude people. Use the wrong language in a particular group and you risk being shunned, being ignored, or worse still, being humiliated.
The English reformation, apart from giving Henry 8th the ability to dissolve a troublesome and unproductive marriage, was about language. The Roman church had always done it’s liturgy in Latin. And the readings from scripture, the sermons, canon law, the shopping list, pretty much everything. Perhaps they thought that Latin was the only language God speaks. Anyway, with the reformation in the English church and its schism with Rome, the services were to be done in the vernacular, meaning the commonly used language of the people. In the case of England the commonly used language was deemed to be, naturally enough, English.
This had a big effect on the life of the church, although in places such as Cornwall where most of the people didn’t speak English either, (some would say they still don’t,) it was just another foreign language. The use of English in worship was enforced and caused quite a lot of trouble, including armed rebellions and uprising which were put down brutally. One might say that the idea of worshipping in the vernacular was subject to political use, a tool to change the local language.
But I’m not here to give a history lesson, or a critique of the motives and processes that drove the reformation. Rather, I wanted to set the background to a short exploration of the use of language, and how it relates to us as a church and our relationship with the world.
Every Pentecost, in a lot of churches, the Acts reading is dramatized and people who speak other languages read out a passage of scripture in their second language. What we seem to forget though is that even within a language there are differences that sometimes make it seem like a foreign language, and that there are languages other than spoken.
Have you ever listened to teenagers talking? How many of their colloquialisms do you understand? When they say that something or someone is gay do you think they mean that it, he/she is happy, homosexual or uncool? It will probably be either of the last two. The term ‘cool’. What is meant by cool? The sentence “we’ve had cool weather lately” could mean that the weather has been cold, or that the weather has been likable, in whatever form that may take. It works the other way as well. How many teenagers would understand the phrase “It is very meet, right and our bounden duty”? Not too many. These are examples of our language is used in particular ways by different groups.
Church language in itself is peculiar. We use terms in the church, in our liturgy and in our stories, that are not readily understandable in the secular world. It is especially prevalent in our songs and in the bible. The songs we sing, whether old or contemporary, contain language that is different.
So is our church language, the vernacular we understand in the church, the most effective way of communicating the Gospel to the world? Especially when the secular world has increasingly had little or no experience or formal teaching in religion? Where those who do have an understanding of the language of faith and belief can often be equated to pre Sunday school level? How then do we reach them to tell them the good news about Jesus Christ?
It’s a tricky one. Because it’s not so much a matter of changing the words we use, it’s about getting the whole culture right. But there’s a danger in this – that in adopting the language and culture of those to whom we are trying to communicate, we will end up looking either ridiculous or being totally patronising. Do any of you remember a show called Father Ted? I remember one episode there was a priest who was a youth leader, and he put on this act of constantly playing his guitar and singing and trying very hard to be groovy – too hard, perhaps. And the young people looked bored. This is how youth ministry is done sometimes, people trying to be cool and not really getting it. Because there is more to it all than just the mannerisms and the words used. Language is actually bigger than that. There is an attitude. Its an attitude of keeping it real.
Keep it real. A catch cry from a fictional TV personality, Ali G, whose own use of language is very interesting to say the least. It means being yourself. I would say that most of us can spot a phony a mile away. Those to whom we reach out will also spot a phony. So even if we don’t fit in, if we are at least honest about who and what we are, if we keep it real, than the language barrier is not so bad, even to the point where it might not matter.
That’s what the spirit empowers us for. The spirit helps us to keep ourselves real, real in a relationship with God, real whilst living in Christ, and real in telling others about that relationship. It’s the language that everyone understands – honesty. Its being yourself, the person you are called to be, the Christian you are, the bearer of Christ in the world. This is the person the spirit builds up. This is our native language, a language that not many people know how to speak, especially these days it seems. Keeping it real.
We are called by Jesus to tell others about His good news. He sent the Spirit to us specially to empower us for this job. We are called to include. And the easy thing about it all, but paradoxically perhaps the hardest thing, is that we only have to be ourselves. We only have to keep it real.
15th May.
Acts 2.1-21, Ps 104.26-36, 1 Corinthians 12.1-13, John 20.19-23.
Language is a powerful tool. As well as being the form of communication, it can be used in social ways. In particular, it can be used to include and exclude people. Use the wrong language in a particular group and you risk being shunned, being ignored, or worse still, being humiliated.
The English reformation, apart from giving Henry 8th the ability to dissolve a troublesome and unproductive marriage, was about language. The Roman church had always done it’s liturgy in Latin. And the readings from scripture, the sermons, canon law, the shopping list, pretty much everything. Perhaps they thought that Latin was the only language God speaks. Anyway, with the reformation in the English church and its schism with Rome, the services were to be done in the vernacular, meaning the commonly used language of the people. In the case of England the commonly used language was deemed to be, naturally enough, English.
This had a big effect on the life of the church, although in places such as Cornwall where most of the people didn’t speak English either, (some would say they still don’t,) it was just another foreign language. The use of English in worship was enforced and caused quite a lot of trouble, including armed rebellions and uprising which were put down brutally. One might say that the idea of worshipping in the vernacular was subject to political use, a tool to change the local language.
But I’m not here to give a history lesson, or a critique of the motives and processes that drove the reformation. Rather, I wanted to set the background to a short exploration of the use of language, and how it relates to us as a church and our relationship with the world.
Every Pentecost, in a lot of churches, the Acts reading is dramatized and people who speak other languages read out a passage of scripture in their second language. What we seem to forget though is that even within a language there are differences that sometimes make it seem like a foreign language, and that there are languages other than spoken.
Have you ever listened to teenagers talking? How many of their colloquialisms do you understand? When they say that something or someone is gay do you think they mean that it, he/she is happy, homosexual or uncool? It will probably be either of the last two. The term ‘cool’. What is meant by cool? The sentence “we’ve had cool weather lately” could mean that the weather has been cold, or that the weather has been likable, in whatever form that may take. It works the other way as well. How many teenagers would understand the phrase “It is very meet, right and our bounden duty”? Not too many. These are examples of our language is used in particular ways by different groups.
Church language in itself is peculiar. We use terms in the church, in our liturgy and in our stories, that are not readily understandable in the secular world. It is especially prevalent in our songs and in the bible. The songs we sing, whether old or contemporary, contain language that is different.
So is our church language, the vernacular we understand in the church, the most effective way of communicating the Gospel to the world? Especially when the secular world has increasingly had little or no experience or formal teaching in religion? Where those who do have an understanding of the language of faith and belief can often be equated to pre Sunday school level? How then do we reach them to tell them the good news about Jesus Christ?
It’s a tricky one. Because it’s not so much a matter of changing the words we use, it’s about getting the whole culture right. But there’s a danger in this – that in adopting the language and culture of those to whom we are trying to communicate, we will end up looking either ridiculous or being totally patronising. Do any of you remember a show called Father Ted? I remember one episode there was a priest who was a youth leader, and he put on this act of constantly playing his guitar and singing and trying very hard to be groovy – too hard, perhaps. And the young people looked bored. This is how youth ministry is done sometimes, people trying to be cool and not really getting it. Because there is more to it all than just the mannerisms and the words used. Language is actually bigger than that. There is an attitude. Its an attitude of keeping it real.
Keep it real. A catch cry from a fictional TV personality, Ali G, whose own use of language is very interesting to say the least. It means being yourself. I would say that most of us can spot a phony a mile away. Those to whom we reach out will also spot a phony. So even if we don’t fit in, if we are at least honest about who and what we are, if we keep it real, than the language barrier is not so bad, even to the point where it might not matter.
That’s what the spirit empowers us for. The spirit helps us to keep ourselves real, real in a relationship with God, real whilst living in Christ, and real in telling others about that relationship. It’s the language that everyone understands – honesty. Its being yourself, the person you are called to be, the Christian you are, the bearer of Christ in the world. This is the person the spirit builds up. This is our native language, a language that not many people know how to speak, especially these days it seems. Keeping it real.
We are called by Jesus to tell others about His good news. He sent the Spirit to us specially to empower us for this job. We are called to include. And the easy thing about it all, but paradoxically perhaps the hardest thing, is that we only have to be ourselves. We only have to keep it real.
Easter 7 2005.
8th May.
Acts 1.6-14, Ps 68.1-10, 32-35, 1 Peter 5, John 17.1-11.
Our first reading for this morning reminds us that we are stuck in the middle.
Now I know this sounds negative, but it isn’t. In fact, its exciting in a way. We are stuck in the time between Jesus departing us – the ascension, and Jesus returning to us – His second coming. We are reminded of this in what the two men in white robes say to the disciples – “This Jesus who has been taken up into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” We are in, I guess, the intermission in this great stageshow of the salvation of the earth. Yet its not like a normal intermission – we don’t go out to the foyer to visit the conveniences and purchase some jaffas and a choc top. No, this intermission is just as much a part of the show itself. You only need to read again what the disciples were doing after Jesus ascended – devoting themselves to prayer.
So we are waiting. In the meantime, many people wonder when Jesus will come back? I mean, even the Apostles were asking Jesus about the divine timetable. Now I guess its one of my hobby horses, this idea that we can work out the mind of God through reading certain bits of the Bible and try to predict the divine timetable. Its wrong to do this, it is wrong to try to predict when Jesus will come back, or pretty much anything else that God will do, because when we think that we know the mind of God, we are putting ourselves on a level with God, or at the very least, putting God in a box, and assuming some sort of special knowledge that others allegedly don’t have. That way leads to mystery cults and secret societies. Besides, its not Biblical to second guess God. I see signs outside the Christadelphian halls saying things about the history of the world predicted in the Bible. Well, I have to say I think they’re wrong. The Bible isn’t written as an almanac. It’s not God’s yearly planner. As it says here in the reading from Acts, Jesus said in answer to the disciples questions “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority”. It is not our place to predict. There are always signs of the times. There have been signs of the times ever since Jesus ascended. There are always wars and earthquakes and catastrophes, floods and famines, pestilence, all that. And what looking for these signs will do is take the emphasis off the present, and put all the energy into some short term future, which is not what God wants of us. And lets face it, there is just so much to do in the present. No time to be gazing up toward heaven. Its time to be firmly grounded here on earth. Cos gee theres lots to be done.
Im going to harp on about mission again. Yeah, I know, not again. But in the lead up to the planning day, we need to keep it in the forefront of our minds. All of the readings in the past weeks have been looking towards the mission of the church after Jesus went. Jesus did the mission work when he was with the disciples, but after he ascended, they had to take over. Jesus commissions them to be the witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. In a court of Law, a witness tells what they think is true. Hopefully. As witnesses then, the fledgling church are charged with telling the truth. And when it comes to something like the resurrection and ascension, it is a difficult truth to tell. Perhaps that’s why many church goers today shy away from it all. I mean, the resurrection and the ascension just don’t make sense, let alone a virgin birth. Preposterous. Yet that is what we believe, I mean we say every Sunday morning that we believe it when we say the Nicene Creed. We have to keep in mind that Christianity is a supernatural religion. That’s not to say its all about ghosts, but its supernatural in the true sense of the word – its beyond the nature of creation as we know it. How many of us would openly admit to believing it if asked about it in the street?
Maybe that’s why the traditional churches are shrinking. Because we often don’t have the guts to say what we believe. Its not a matter of telling everyone what to believe, or specifically telling others they are wrong. Its just about being able to say “this is what I believe” without flinching or embarrassment. And to be able to know what it is you believe because you have thought it through.
Robyn Archer, the performer, director, musician and singer wrote this in the Advertiser weekend magazine:
There is a priest, a long-time supporter of the arts, who works in the suburbs of Melbourne. Having had to defend his faith vigorously during the heady 60’s, he is now appalled by young people who come to him saying “I don’t want to question or debate; just give me the dogma and I’ll obey”.
Is this the sort of society, the sort of church we are turning out these days? I mean, if we cannot wrestle with it, if we cannot, all of us, say what we believe and discuss it, then we are doomed to fail in the long run. How can a relationship with God be built on dogma? Built in to the strength of conviction to say what we believe is also the strength to listen to others tell us what they believe and to interact and discuss with that person in a way that is not disempowering or insulting. There is also implicit the obligation to develop your faith through interaction with God and with others. It is an active thing, it is something which must be exercised and lived in the now. A belief in the possibilities within God’s kingdom as it exists here on earth now, manifest in God’s church of every denomination.
So then. Do we have the strength of our convictions to be fair dinkum about being witnesses to the truth that we know? Can we risk the ridicule? Can we be ourselves, God’s people, without fear? I think we can. And this is what helps me to know this, the last verse from the second reading:
“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.
He will indeed. How could we fail? How can we not take up this challenge? This parish has had a hard time. That’s over now. The little suffering is finished. Now is the time of restoration. If you let it happen, it will, on a personal level and in the church. Live in the present, witness to the present kingdom, the here and now Kingdom, and when the time comes for Jesus to return he will return. Accept the help of the Holy Spirit in the meantime, whose coming to the church we celebrate next week.
To God the Holy Trinity be the power forever and ever. Amen.
8th May.
Acts 1.6-14, Ps 68.1-10, 32-35, 1 Peter 5, John 17.1-11.
Our first reading for this morning reminds us that we are stuck in the middle.
Now I know this sounds negative, but it isn’t. In fact, its exciting in a way. We are stuck in the time between Jesus departing us – the ascension, and Jesus returning to us – His second coming. We are reminded of this in what the two men in white robes say to the disciples – “This Jesus who has been taken up into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” We are in, I guess, the intermission in this great stageshow of the salvation of the earth. Yet its not like a normal intermission – we don’t go out to the foyer to visit the conveniences and purchase some jaffas and a choc top. No, this intermission is just as much a part of the show itself. You only need to read again what the disciples were doing after Jesus ascended – devoting themselves to prayer.
So we are waiting. In the meantime, many people wonder when Jesus will come back? I mean, even the Apostles were asking Jesus about the divine timetable. Now I guess its one of my hobby horses, this idea that we can work out the mind of God through reading certain bits of the Bible and try to predict the divine timetable. Its wrong to do this, it is wrong to try to predict when Jesus will come back, or pretty much anything else that God will do, because when we think that we know the mind of God, we are putting ourselves on a level with God, or at the very least, putting God in a box, and assuming some sort of special knowledge that others allegedly don’t have. That way leads to mystery cults and secret societies. Besides, its not Biblical to second guess God. I see signs outside the Christadelphian halls saying things about the history of the world predicted in the Bible. Well, I have to say I think they’re wrong. The Bible isn’t written as an almanac. It’s not God’s yearly planner. As it says here in the reading from Acts, Jesus said in answer to the disciples questions “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority”. It is not our place to predict. There are always signs of the times. There have been signs of the times ever since Jesus ascended. There are always wars and earthquakes and catastrophes, floods and famines, pestilence, all that. And what looking for these signs will do is take the emphasis off the present, and put all the energy into some short term future, which is not what God wants of us. And lets face it, there is just so much to do in the present. No time to be gazing up toward heaven. Its time to be firmly grounded here on earth. Cos gee theres lots to be done.
Im going to harp on about mission again. Yeah, I know, not again. But in the lead up to the planning day, we need to keep it in the forefront of our minds. All of the readings in the past weeks have been looking towards the mission of the church after Jesus went. Jesus did the mission work when he was with the disciples, but after he ascended, they had to take over. Jesus commissions them to be the witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. In a court of Law, a witness tells what they think is true. Hopefully. As witnesses then, the fledgling church are charged with telling the truth. And when it comes to something like the resurrection and ascension, it is a difficult truth to tell. Perhaps that’s why many church goers today shy away from it all. I mean, the resurrection and the ascension just don’t make sense, let alone a virgin birth. Preposterous. Yet that is what we believe, I mean we say every Sunday morning that we believe it when we say the Nicene Creed. We have to keep in mind that Christianity is a supernatural religion. That’s not to say its all about ghosts, but its supernatural in the true sense of the word – its beyond the nature of creation as we know it. How many of us would openly admit to believing it if asked about it in the street?
Maybe that’s why the traditional churches are shrinking. Because we often don’t have the guts to say what we believe. Its not a matter of telling everyone what to believe, or specifically telling others they are wrong. Its just about being able to say “this is what I believe” without flinching or embarrassment. And to be able to know what it is you believe because you have thought it through.
Robyn Archer, the performer, director, musician and singer wrote this in the Advertiser weekend magazine:
There is a priest, a long-time supporter of the arts, who works in the suburbs of Melbourne. Having had to defend his faith vigorously during the heady 60’s, he is now appalled by young people who come to him saying “I don’t want to question or debate; just give me the dogma and I’ll obey”.
Is this the sort of society, the sort of church we are turning out these days? I mean, if we cannot wrestle with it, if we cannot, all of us, say what we believe and discuss it, then we are doomed to fail in the long run. How can a relationship with God be built on dogma? Built in to the strength of conviction to say what we believe is also the strength to listen to others tell us what they believe and to interact and discuss with that person in a way that is not disempowering or insulting. There is also implicit the obligation to develop your faith through interaction with God and with others. It is an active thing, it is something which must be exercised and lived in the now. A belief in the possibilities within God’s kingdom as it exists here on earth now, manifest in God’s church of every denomination.
So then. Do we have the strength of our convictions to be fair dinkum about being witnesses to the truth that we know? Can we risk the ridicule? Can we be ourselves, God’s people, without fear? I think we can. And this is what helps me to know this, the last verse from the second reading:
“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.
He will indeed. How could we fail? How can we not take up this challenge? This parish has had a hard time. That’s over now. The little suffering is finished. Now is the time of restoration. If you let it happen, it will, on a personal level and in the church. Live in the present, witness to the present kingdom, the here and now Kingdom, and when the time comes for Jesus to return he will return. Accept the help of the Holy Spirit in the meantime, whose coming to the church we celebrate next week.
To God the Holy Trinity be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Easter 6 2005.
1st May.
Acts 17.22-31, Ps 66.7-19, 1 Peter 3.8-22, John 14.15-21.
I’ve tried really hard this week.
I mean, I tend to push the mission thing a bit, don’t I?
I think I end up preaching a lot about getting out and being church, about being a Christian in the world, about building up the church, but sometimes I forget about the internal stuff, the God and I stuff, the personal faith. Questions like where is God when I’m hurting? Where is God when I’m depressed? Where is God when my football loses again? Where can I find God in my life? Where can I get some good coffee? All essential questions of life, the universe and God.
Like I said, I tried really hard to find a sermon about this sort of stuff in the readings for today.
But I just couldn’t.
You see, its Paul’s fault. He’s just way too clever. The reading from Acts, where Paul is addressing the people of Athens, that great centre of Greek enlightenment, the hub of paganism, in a speech that is especially well crafted to be engaging and relevant. I mean, it’s just so much an example of how we can talk to others about our faith that it really can’t be ignored.
Its pretty obvious that in the wider Australian community, Christians don’t have a great image. We are often portrayed as fruitcakes who take great delight in saying no to anything enjoyable, spoilsports who are totally out of touch with the world.
Yet we know that most Christians are pretty normal people with the usual hopes and fears for themselves and their families. We are mostly not impossibly prudish, nor are most of us ultra conservative and dogmatic. We are pretty normal really. So where are all the people?
I mean, we try to be inclusive, inviting and open to all people. You’d think that this would be more attractive. But the funny thing is that it is the more inclusive churches that seem to struggle, whilst the churches with a more exclusive, dogmatic and conservative theology are often much more full of people, and consequently much more full of life. Why is this so?
Well, for a start, conservative evangelical Christians take a lot more seriously the task of telling others about Jesus. It’s as simple as that. They are more definite about the message and more focused on the task of evangelism.
And there is also the fact that we live in conservative times. It’s a time of unease, of fear, and the conservative reference points are what people are hanging on to. We are feeling fearful about the world in which we live, a world that is in a state of flux, and we seem to be searching out conservative reference points to hang on to. A reference point is a bottom line, something in life that is a constant that everything else is referred back to and compared to. The more conservative Christian denominations are very good at having strong reference points and communicating what they are.
Back to Paul. He was very skilful in his communication, a great preacher and teacher. We can see that he was great in the way that he looked at the community to whom he was directing the message, and found a reference point that he could use. He found the extreme religiosity of the Athenians, their habit of having a God for everything, and even having an unknown God just in case they missed one. Now that’s covering every angle. And he praised their spirituality, he affirmed their reference point, before giving his message, a message that aligned and developed their reference point. He was a very astute operator.
So what are the reference points in this community, in our area? I’m not sure what they might be, I mean I’ve only been here 5 minutes after all. But I’m sure many of you who have lived in the area for a while are more aware of what the reference points are. Anyway, with some knowledge of the reference points of the community, some knowledge of what the overriding concerns and needs are, we can actually be a bit more specific about what we do as a church in the hope of communicating with more people. So I guess this is something else to think about and maybe do some research of your own before the planning day at the end of this month. This will help us to identify, as a community, what it is that we can offer, and how we can educate ourselves to communicate more effectively.
I actually wanted to look at the other readings as well. Because we have a fairly dangerous reading in the 1 Peter reading this morning, I mean, the idea that in suffering we are blessed is a very difficult message. It must be difficult to feel blessed whilst suffering. Yet Peter does allude to something that is rather useful for us this morning. It’s in this verse “Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you”. The hope that is in us. That’s the key. I guess in troubled times, something that offers hope is a very good thing, an alternative reference point. Keeping hope alive is much more difficult when suffering, so hope becomes a beacon, standing out in stark relief to the surrounding feeling of hopelessness. That’s the thing about the Christian faith, there is always hope. Hope of a better day, a better life, a better world. Hope of something good to rise out of the ashes of something bad. Hope is something this world needs a lot more of. Every little example of hope is something to treasure. Every example of hope spreads more hope. If we show hope when we are out in the world, then we will help spread that hope. Hope is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel reading, the hope that even though he was to die, and rise again, and go to the Father, He would not leave the disciples without assistance, without divine presence. He promised them the Spirit. Even in the Psalm this morning, which was pretty depressing really, the last two verses say this “18 But God has heard me: he has heeded the voice of my prayer. Praise be to God: who has not turned back my prayer, or his steadfast love from me.” This is hope. This is what the world wants to hear. And what Peter was writing about was being ready to express hope, to tell others why that community of Christians had hope, even in troubled times.
So what is the hope then? The hope that is within me, I think, is that God is with us, that we are never alone. Quite often we might feel God-forsaken – even Jesus had his moment on the cross of feeling that – “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet we are not alone. This is of course what Jesus promised. The hope he leaves them with is the knowledge that if they love him and keep his commandments, to love God and to love one another, and to tell others about that love, that they will never be without the divine presence, not just around them but within them. Jesus said “I am in the Father, and you in me and I in you.” This is the promise that the resurrected Jesus Christ kept, giving such hope to the community that it thrived.
So I guess the mission thing and the personal relationship with God thing are linked. It is the internal relationship with God that drives the mission. In order to be a community of hope we strive to be individual people of hope. In that hope we come together as a community, because hope-full people naturally attract each other. And as a community full to brimming with hope-full people, we will attract many more people in search of hope.
Wishful thinking? Well, one can only hope.
The Lord be with you.
1st May.
Acts 17.22-31, Ps 66.7-19, 1 Peter 3.8-22, John 14.15-21.
I’ve tried really hard this week.
I mean, I tend to push the mission thing a bit, don’t I?
I think I end up preaching a lot about getting out and being church, about being a Christian in the world, about building up the church, but sometimes I forget about the internal stuff, the God and I stuff, the personal faith. Questions like where is God when I’m hurting? Where is God when I’m depressed? Where is God when my football loses again? Where can I find God in my life? Where can I get some good coffee? All essential questions of life, the universe and God.
Like I said, I tried really hard to find a sermon about this sort of stuff in the readings for today.
But I just couldn’t.
You see, its Paul’s fault. He’s just way too clever. The reading from Acts, where Paul is addressing the people of Athens, that great centre of Greek enlightenment, the hub of paganism, in a speech that is especially well crafted to be engaging and relevant. I mean, it’s just so much an example of how we can talk to others about our faith that it really can’t be ignored.
Its pretty obvious that in the wider Australian community, Christians don’t have a great image. We are often portrayed as fruitcakes who take great delight in saying no to anything enjoyable, spoilsports who are totally out of touch with the world.
Yet we know that most Christians are pretty normal people with the usual hopes and fears for themselves and their families. We are mostly not impossibly prudish, nor are most of us ultra conservative and dogmatic. We are pretty normal really. So where are all the people?
I mean, we try to be inclusive, inviting and open to all people. You’d think that this would be more attractive. But the funny thing is that it is the more inclusive churches that seem to struggle, whilst the churches with a more exclusive, dogmatic and conservative theology are often much more full of people, and consequently much more full of life. Why is this so?
Well, for a start, conservative evangelical Christians take a lot more seriously the task of telling others about Jesus. It’s as simple as that. They are more definite about the message and more focused on the task of evangelism.
And there is also the fact that we live in conservative times. It’s a time of unease, of fear, and the conservative reference points are what people are hanging on to. We are feeling fearful about the world in which we live, a world that is in a state of flux, and we seem to be searching out conservative reference points to hang on to. A reference point is a bottom line, something in life that is a constant that everything else is referred back to and compared to. The more conservative Christian denominations are very good at having strong reference points and communicating what they are.
Back to Paul. He was very skilful in his communication, a great preacher and teacher. We can see that he was great in the way that he looked at the community to whom he was directing the message, and found a reference point that he could use. He found the extreme religiosity of the Athenians, their habit of having a God for everything, and even having an unknown God just in case they missed one. Now that’s covering every angle. And he praised their spirituality, he affirmed their reference point, before giving his message, a message that aligned and developed their reference point. He was a very astute operator.
So what are the reference points in this community, in our area? I’m not sure what they might be, I mean I’ve only been here 5 minutes after all. But I’m sure many of you who have lived in the area for a while are more aware of what the reference points are. Anyway, with some knowledge of the reference points of the community, some knowledge of what the overriding concerns and needs are, we can actually be a bit more specific about what we do as a church in the hope of communicating with more people. So I guess this is something else to think about and maybe do some research of your own before the planning day at the end of this month. This will help us to identify, as a community, what it is that we can offer, and how we can educate ourselves to communicate more effectively.
I actually wanted to look at the other readings as well. Because we have a fairly dangerous reading in the 1 Peter reading this morning, I mean, the idea that in suffering we are blessed is a very difficult message. It must be difficult to feel blessed whilst suffering. Yet Peter does allude to something that is rather useful for us this morning. It’s in this verse “Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you”. The hope that is in us. That’s the key. I guess in troubled times, something that offers hope is a very good thing, an alternative reference point. Keeping hope alive is much more difficult when suffering, so hope becomes a beacon, standing out in stark relief to the surrounding feeling of hopelessness. That’s the thing about the Christian faith, there is always hope. Hope of a better day, a better life, a better world. Hope of something good to rise out of the ashes of something bad. Hope is something this world needs a lot more of. Every little example of hope is something to treasure. Every example of hope spreads more hope. If we show hope when we are out in the world, then we will help spread that hope. Hope is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel reading, the hope that even though he was to die, and rise again, and go to the Father, He would not leave the disciples without assistance, without divine presence. He promised them the Spirit. Even in the Psalm this morning, which was pretty depressing really, the last two verses say this “18 But God has heard me: he has heeded the voice of my prayer. Praise be to God: who has not turned back my prayer, or his steadfast love from me.” This is hope. This is what the world wants to hear. And what Peter was writing about was being ready to express hope, to tell others why that community of Christians had hope, even in troubled times.
So what is the hope then? The hope that is within me, I think, is that God is with us, that we are never alone. Quite often we might feel God-forsaken – even Jesus had his moment on the cross of feeling that – “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet we are not alone. This is of course what Jesus promised. The hope he leaves them with is the knowledge that if they love him and keep his commandments, to love God and to love one another, and to tell others about that love, that they will never be without the divine presence, not just around them but within them. Jesus said “I am in the Father, and you in me and I in you.” This is the promise that the resurrected Jesus Christ kept, giving such hope to the community that it thrived.
So I guess the mission thing and the personal relationship with God thing are linked. It is the internal relationship with God that drives the mission. In order to be a community of hope we strive to be individual people of hope. In that hope we come together as a community, because hope-full people naturally attract each other. And as a community full to brimming with hope-full people, we will attract many more people in search of hope.
Wishful thinking? Well, one can only hope.
The Lord be with you.
Easter 5 2005
24th April.
Last will and testament.
Acts 7.55-60, Ps 31.1-5, 17-18, 1 Peter 2.11-25, John 14.1-14.
Its pretty hard on those left behind when a person dies without a current will. I have had that experience, and fortunately my dad was not wealthy, or it could have been worse. As it was, it took 2 years to get the superannuation company to pay his policy out. The only thing he actually wrote down was that I was to get his old Falcon. At least that bit was easy. As for a funeral, and whether he wanted to be buried or cremated, well, there was nothing in writing. But apparently he told his partner that he wanted to be buried, and so that’s what we did. And we buried him back in his home town, in Erica, in Gippsland, Victoria. Arranging the funeral was interesting though, cos everyone in the family has their own idea, and when it doesn’t work out the way they want it to, they get upset. So you see, if it had been worked out beforehand, it would have been much easier on those of us left behind, who had to get on with life after he’d gone. In way, leaving a last will and testament is a good way of caring for those left behind.
Jesus, on the other hand, was a lot more organised than my dear ol’ dad. I mean, imagine if Jesus had not done something about preparing things for when he went. What a mess that would have left.
Jesus left his last will and testament, and what we have here in the gospel reading this morning is part of John’s recording of it. And it’s message is just as relevant for us today as it was for his immediate disciples. That’s the thing with much of what Jesus said, its wisdom and truth transcends history.
Jesus knows that his disciples will grieve. This passage begins with him telling them not to let their hearts be troubled. Previously in the Gospel, Jesus had been telling his followers that he would be taken from them soon, betrayed by one of them, and He had actually sent Judas on his mission to begin the events that lead to His death. Jesus had then predicted that Peter would deny him three times. So, for the disciples it was very troubling news. A fledgling community of faith, centered on Our Lord Jesus Christ, about to become leaderless, messiah-less. Troubled hearts are to be expected. To help with their troubled hearts, Jesus speaks about where he is to go. And promises to come back, when it was time, to take them to himself. So the separation is not for ever. He leaves them a promise of hope to come after the hard times that will follow. Just as a persons last will and testament will often have instructions and bequests for the care of those loved ones left behind, or specify funeral wishes, etc, this is Jesus bequest, a bequest of hope in a future that goes beyond mortality, especially important when life could end very quickly through religious and political persecution.
The other two readings for this morning are about hard times as well, and I want to acknowledge them also. I think it’s difficult for us to imagine the context of the death of Stephen and the persecution that was happening to the community that Peter had written to. His letter was about encouragement in tough times as well. The funny thing is, that when times are tough, that’s when the church seems to flourish more. Perhaps the privilege to worship our God is taken all too lightly here in the affluent western world. Whatever the reason though, the result is that we just don’t seem to value our faith. Perhaps it’s just all too easy.
Yet it is hard for us at times. It is harder to be a confessing Christian in the world today than it was 50 years ago. It is harder now to keep a traditional mainstream denominational church open and viable. And often when it does get too hard, when the church as we know it doesn’t work anymore, many people are inclined to give up. I mean, there has even been talk at synod of coming up with a theology of shrinking. That’s a cop out I think. It’s a sign that we are losing hope. I mean, that’s why many people will leave troubled churches, because they lose hope. I guess there is also the fact that no one wants to be associtated with a failure. And that’s what we fear, almost more than death. Failure.
Yet what would have happened to the early church if the disciples had given up? What would have happened if those early communities to whom Peter wrote had chucked in the towel and gone back to being pagans? Who knows. The church, if it indeed still existed, would be very different. But the fact is that they didn’t give up. They grew stronger. Despite persecution and other hardships, despite the threat of failure, the church prospered. Is there a lesson in there for us today? Damn right there is. Its this - don’t give up hope.
And this is a good time now to look at a tricky verse in the latter half of this reading. Its this one “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 . . . . . ” What does he mean that those he leaves behind can do more than he did? Well, actually, yes.
You see, it all depends what is meant. Jesus did many signs and wonders. He healed many, he drove out demons, he forgave many, and he encouraged many people to join his community. These were all spectacular. Yet were they the real work that he was here to do? Well, yes and no.
Jesus was here to heal to sick, and release the captives. The sick being healed were released both from the bonds of illness and from the bonds of separation from the community, from being considered unclean. So these things he did. But the real job was to proclaim the Gospel, the good news of God’s forgiveness and grace. And it is here that we can see that yes, those He left behind were indeed able to do greater works. After all, when Jesus went to the cross for us, his followers were not a huge number, yet very soon after His death and resurrection His church was growing and the gospel was spreading. So yes, in that sense they did do greater works. But do you know the really scary thing? We are called to do the same. We too, can do greater works, in this sense, than Jesus. I mean, He tells us this himself. We can spread the gospel, in fact, we have to.
So, the lesson for us out of the readings this morning?
As I said earlier, it is partly to not give up hope. Hang on to hope for dear life. But it is also to know that we are called, expected and are quite capable of doing greater works than Jesus. Yes, that’s right, you, me, all Christians are capable. We can ask for help – Jesus even says that, doesn’t he. “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Ask for help. How often, when a church is in trouble, do we get in the damage control people, and consultants, and start talks with other parishes aimed at shoring up a sinking ship? Most of the time. We are lucky. We are still a one church parish. We have the potential. We know that we are down, but we are certainly not out.
This message not to give up hope is also intended for us as individual Christians. Because yes, life can be tough for us as individuals. But if hope is there, hope of a life beyond this one, a hope of life now without the fear of death, then that’s good for us. We can be free to live, really live, and be free to share our Christian faith and even, heaven forbid, to be excited by it. And in so doing, be as close to God as we can be.
A thriving faith, a thriving life, a thriving community. Sounds good. No, it sounds exciting. And its all within reach. Pray about it.
The Lord be with you.
24th April.
Last will and testament.
Acts 7.55-60, Ps 31.1-5, 17-18, 1 Peter 2.11-25, John 14.1-14.
Its pretty hard on those left behind when a person dies without a current will. I have had that experience, and fortunately my dad was not wealthy, or it could have been worse. As it was, it took 2 years to get the superannuation company to pay his policy out. The only thing he actually wrote down was that I was to get his old Falcon. At least that bit was easy. As for a funeral, and whether he wanted to be buried or cremated, well, there was nothing in writing. But apparently he told his partner that he wanted to be buried, and so that’s what we did. And we buried him back in his home town, in Erica, in Gippsland, Victoria. Arranging the funeral was interesting though, cos everyone in the family has their own idea, and when it doesn’t work out the way they want it to, they get upset. So you see, if it had been worked out beforehand, it would have been much easier on those of us left behind, who had to get on with life after he’d gone. In way, leaving a last will and testament is a good way of caring for those left behind.
Jesus, on the other hand, was a lot more organised than my dear ol’ dad. I mean, imagine if Jesus had not done something about preparing things for when he went. What a mess that would have left.
Jesus left his last will and testament, and what we have here in the gospel reading this morning is part of John’s recording of it. And it’s message is just as relevant for us today as it was for his immediate disciples. That’s the thing with much of what Jesus said, its wisdom and truth transcends history.
Jesus knows that his disciples will grieve. This passage begins with him telling them not to let their hearts be troubled. Previously in the Gospel, Jesus had been telling his followers that he would be taken from them soon, betrayed by one of them, and He had actually sent Judas on his mission to begin the events that lead to His death. Jesus had then predicted that Peter would deny him three times. So, for the disciples it was very troubling news. A fledgling community of faith, centered on Our Lord Jesus Christ, about to become leaderless, messiah-less. Troubled hearts are to be expected. To help with their troubled hearts, Jesus speaks about where he is to go. And promises to come back, when it was time, to take them to himself. So the separation is not for ever. He leaves them a promise of hope to come after the hard times that will follow. Just as a persons last will and testament will often have instructions and bequests for the care of those loved ones left behind, or specify funeral wishes, etc, this is Jesus bequest, a bequest of hope in a future that goes beyond mortality, especially important when life could end very quickly through religious and political persecution.
The other two readings for this morning are about hard times as well, and I want to acknowledge them also. I think it’s difficult for us to imagine the context of the death of Stephen and the persecution that was happening to the community that Peter had written to. His letter was about encouragement in tough times as well. The funny thing is, that when times are tough, that’s when the church seems to flourish more. Perhaps the privilege to worship our God is taken all too lightly here in the affluent western world. Whatever the reason though, the result is that we just don’t seem to value our faith. Perhaps it’s just all too easy.
Yet it is hard for us at times. It is harder to be a confessing Christian in the world today than it was 50 years ago. It is harder now to keep a traditional mainstream denominational church open and viable. And often when it does get too hard, when the church as we know it doesn’t work anymore, many people are inclined to give up. I mean, there has even been talk at synod of coming up with a theology of shrinking. That’s a cop out I think. It’s a sign that we are losing hope. I mean, that’s why many people will leave troubled churches, because they lose hope. I guess there is also the fact that no one wants to be associtated with a failure. And that’s what we fear, almost more than death. Failure.
Yet what would have happened to the early church if the disciples had given up? What would have happened if those early communities to whom Peter wrote had chucked in the towel and gone back to being pagans? Who knows. The church, if it indeed still existed, would be very different. But the fact is that they didn’t give up. They grew stronger. Despite persecution and other hardships, despite the threat of failure, the church prospered. Is there a lesson in there for us today? Damn right there is. Its this - don’t give up hope.
And this is a good time now to look at a tricky verse in the latter half of this reading. Its this one “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 . . . . . ” What does he mean that those he leaves behind can do more than he did? Well, actually, yes.
You see, it all depends what is meant. Jesus did many signs and wonders. He healed many, he drove out demons, he forgave many, and he encouraged many people to join his community. These were all spectacular. Yet were they the real work that he was here to do? Well, yes and no.
Jesus was here to heal to sick, and release the captives. The sick being healed were released both from the bonds of illness and from the bonds of separation from the community, from being considered unclean. So these things he did. But the real job was to proclaim the Gospel, the good news of God’s forgiveness and grace. And it is here that we can see that yes, those He left behind were indeed able to do greater works. After all, when Jesus went to the cross for us, his followers were not a huge number, yet very soon after His death and resurrection His church was growing and the gospel was spreading. So yes, in that sense they did do greater works. But do you know the really scary thing? We are called to do the same. We too, can do greater works, in this sense, than Jesus. I mean, He tells us this himself. We can spread the gospel, in fact, we have to.
So, the lesson for us out of the readings this morning?
As I said earlier, it is partly to not give up hope. Hang on to hope for dear life. But it is also to know that we are called, expected and are quite capable of doing greater works than Jesus. Yes, that’s right, you, me, all Christians are capable. We can ask for help – Jesus even says that, doesn’t he. “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Ask for help. How often, when a church is in trouble, do we get in the damage control people, and consultants, and start talks with other parishes aimed at shoring up a sinking ship? Most of the time. We are lucky. We are still a one church parish. We have the potential. We know that we are down, but we are certainly not out.
This message not to give up hope is also intended for us as individual Christians. Because yes, life can be tough for us as individuals. But if hope is there, hope of a life beyond this one, a hope of life now without the fear of death, then that’s good for us. We can be free to live, really live, and be free to share our Christian faith and even, heaven forbid, to be excited by it. And in so doing, be as close to God as we can be.
A thriving faith, a thriving life, a thriving community. Sounds good. No, it sounds exciting. And its all within reach. Pray about it.
The Lord be with you.
Easter 4, 2005.
17th April.
Acts 2.42-47, Ps 23, 1 Peter 2.1-10, John10.1-10.
When you hear the reading from Acts that we have had this morning, do you feel compelled to compare that fledgling church with what we have now, not just our own parish, but the whole church, worldwide? And if you do, do wonder what went wrong? I know I do. But these comparisons are rarely helpful, as so much has changed in those intervening 2000 years so as to make a comparison irrelevant. And one might say that for a very small church in the beginning, that was itself an offshoot from the Jewish religion, and still within its structure, this sort of short lived utopian life is to be expected.
But what we do have here in this reading that is relevant to us are some clues as to what the characteristics of a church could and should be. Let’s have a look at them, and then I’ll leave you to reflect on a comparison yourselves as to whether we have those marks of a good church here.
This early church was a learning church. It was a community that was serious about the growth in faith of the people. They wanted to know more. They didn’t just listen to the apostles teaching, they devoted themselves to it. They studied, they got right into learning. To grow a church, to grow a Christian, an informed faith is needed. Experience in faith is a great teacher. But often we need more. We need to learn more to be able to give an account for the hope that is within us. Learning can help build that hope, can give it a firmer, stronger, more grounded base on which it can be built. Learning can also help us find the words and the means to express that faith. It can help us understand the basis for the faith, it gives us the intellectual knowledge to go with the feelings. Sharing as a community in learning experiences will build the community as a whole, as well as building up individuals. Any increase in the faith of one person is an increase in the faith of the whole community. So, you see, its all good.
This early church was a church of fellowship. It had the quality of togetherness. They spent time together as a community. That’s a key part of being a Christian. It’s impossible to be a Christian alone. A solitary Christian is an oxymoron. Maybe that’s why new age people don’t go for Christianity, because it requires a commitment to community, not just to ones self and one’s guru. It requires embracing a communal view of God, not a singular. And even God, even the Holy Trinity, is in itself fellowship. God is community. And we know that Jesus didn’t call people to follow him as individuals. He called them to a community, a family. So we are called to fellowship. Even a nice cup of tea or coffee after church, catching up, a bit of socialising, is very important to the Christian community. Very nearly as important as the service itself. Because in fellowship, in community, we grow. Our interactions, both positive and negative are all formative. We learn, hopefully, how to live as Christians by being in fellowship with other Christians. We support each other, we laugh together, cry together, share each other’s lives. Absolutely essential stuff.
The people of the early church were in awe. They were in awe of the power of God, the signs and wonders that were happening about them. Now when was the last time a miracle happened in this parish? Three years ago? Five? Ten? Never? Well, every day miracles happen. Its all dependent on what you’re looking for in a miracle. The time at Hallett Cove, with Jacob, at sunset, and dolphins were feeding, jumping out of the water, that was a miracle to me. That was something to be in awe of. A friend of mine, a parishioner at the Good Shepherd died last week. He was young, 55, and died of motor neurone disease. His life was a miracle, the amount of work he did for people like the orphans he spent all of his holidays working with, and the rest of the year raising money for. His life was a miracle. And something to be in awe of. We are so bedazzled by the amazing technological advances of our world that we fail to be in awe of anything anymore.
This early church was a place where things happened. Again, the signs and wonders. And again, it is a matter of perspective. Is a sign or a wonder only some sort of charismatic gift? Is it a miracle healing, done in a southern American accent? In some churches, if anything at all happens, like someone breathing, it’s a miracle. But there are things happening here quite often. And part of our planning will be to plan strategically and prayerfully things that might happen here, signs and wonders of fellowship and Christian community. People are attracted to places where things happen. And the more people that come, the more potential there is for things to happen.
This early church was a sharing church. There was in intense sense of responsibility for each other amongst these early Christians. They were the social security system for their community. There were no unemployment benefits, or sickness pensions, or sole parent payments, or aged pensions. They looked after their people who were in need by themselves. We have some social security systems in place as part of the government structure, although admittedly the government seem to do so grudgingly and the pensions and allowances seem to be worth less each year. And it’s in this shortfall that groups like churches work, and that is where our community outreach happens, the food for Noarlunga, and the Monday lunches, things like that. And the assistance we give each other in this community. We look after each other, we are called to, it’s in our nature.
This early church is a worshipping church. They spent much time in the temple. But it’s not just about spending time at worship in a temple or a church. Worship happens everywhere, not just between the hours of 8am and 12noon on Sunday mornings in Christian places. It sounds like many aspects of the life of the early church were acts of worship, the sharing and caring. And it’s no different now, even on an individual level. I mean, I had the greatest sense of worship when I went for ride on the bike after church a few weeks ago. It was on the road between Clarendon and Meadows, and I had this feeling here, in my heart. It was joy, worship, gratitude, and I couldn’t help praising God for the wonderful feeling. We can all do this in our lives, in those special times doing things we enjoy, as well as when we are together in our beautiful church. Its just a matter of expanding our concept of worship.
Above all, that early church was a community that people wanted to be in. It was attractive because of its qualities described above. This is what I hope we are aiming for. The vision that I am working towards, a vision without form as yet, is for this parish, this community, to be a place that people can’t help but be drawn to. A place of life, worship, community, sharing. The form to this vision will come from all of us, in the parish planning process. We will all, I hope, pray about this, listen to God, and allow the Spirit to move us and inspire us. I invite you, if you haven’t started already to pray for the discernment and vision. Have a think about where we fit with these qualities of church. And how we might do better if you find we are lacking. Above all, think and pray about how we might better fulfil our mission to be Christians in this local community and to bring others to Christ. Then perhaps, day by day, the Lord will add to our number the many who are being saved.
The Lord be with you.
17th April.
Acts 2.42-47, Ps 23, 1 Peter 2.1-10, John10.1-10.
When you hear the reading from Acts that we have had this morning, do you feel compelled to compare that fledgling church with what we have now, not just our own parish, but the whole church, worldwide? And if you do, do wonder what went wrong? I know I do. But these comparisons are rarely helpful, as so much has changed in those intervening 2000 years so as to make a comparison irrelevant. And one might say that for a very small church in the beginning, that was itself an offshoot from the Jewish religion, and still within its structure, this sort of short lived utopian life is to be expected.
But what we do have here in this reading that is relevant to us are some clues as to what the characteristics of a church could and should be. Let’s have a look at them, and then I’ll leave you to reflect on a comparison yourselves as to whether we have those marks of a good church here.
This early church was a learning church. It was a community that was serious about the growth in faith of the people. They wanted to know more. They didn’t just listen to the apostles teaching, they devoted themselves to it. They studied, they got right into learning. To grow a church, to grow a Christian, an informed faith is needed. Experience in faith is a great teacher. But often we need more. We need to learn more to be able to give an account for the hope that is within us. Learning can help build that hope, can give it a firmer, stronger, more grounded base on which it can be built. Learning can also help us find the words and the means to express that faith. It can help us understand the basis for the faith, it gives us the intellectual knowledge to go with the feelings. Sharing as a community in learning experiences will build the community as a whole, as well as building up individuals. Any increase in the faith of one person is an increase in the faith of the whole community. So, you see, its all good.
This early church was a church of fellowship. It had the quality of togetherness. They spent time together as a community. That’s a key part of being a Christian. It’s impossible to be a Christian alone. A solitary Christian is an oxymoron. Maybe that’s why new age people don’t go for Christianity, because it requires a commitment to community, not just to ones self and one’s guru. It requires embracing a communal view of God, not a singular. And even God, even the Holy Trinity, is in itself fellowship. God is community. And we know that Jesus didn’t call people to follow him as individuals. He called them to a community, a family. So we are called to fellowship. Even a nice cup of tea or coffee after church, catching up, a bit of socialising, is very important to the Christian community. Very nearly as important as the service itself. Because in fellowship, in community, we grow. Our interactions, both positive and negative are all formative. We learn, hopefully, how to live as Christians by being in fellowship with other Christians. We support each other, we laugh together, cry together, share each other’s lives. Absolutely essential stuff.
The people of the early church were in awe. They were in awe of the power of God, the signs and wonders that were happening about them. Now when was the last time a miracle happened in this parish? Three years ago? Five? Ten? Never? Well, every day miracles happen. Its all dependent on what you’re looking for in a miracle. The time at Hallett Cove, with Jacob, at sunset, and dolphins were feeding, jumping out of the water, that was a miracle to me. That was something to be in awe of. A friend of mine, a parishioner at the Good Shepherd died last week. He was young, 55, and died of motor neurone disease. His life was a miracle, the amount of work he did for people like the orphans he spent all of his holidays working with, and the rest of the year raising money for. His life was a miracle. And something to be in awe of. We are so bedazzled by the amazing technological advances of our world that we fail to be in awe of anything anymore.
This early church was a place where things happened. Again, the signs and wonders. And again, it is a matter of perspective. Is a sign or a wonder only some sort of charismatic gift? Is it a miracle healing, done in a southern American accent? In some churches, if anything at all happens, like someone breathing, it’s a miracle. But there are things happening here quite often. And part of our planning will be to plan strategically and prayerfully things that might happen here, signs and wonders of fellowship and Christian community. People are attracted to places where things happen. And the more people that come, the more potential there is for things to happen.
This early church was a sharing church. There was in intense sense of responsibility for each other amongst these early Christians. They were the social security system for their community. There were no unemployment benefits, or sickness pensions, or sole parent payments, or aged pensions. They looked after their people who were in need by themselves. We have some social security systems in place as part of the government structure, although admittedly the government seem to do so grudgingly and the pensions and allowances seem to be worth less each year. And it’s in this shortfall that groups like churches work, and that is where our community outreach happens, the food for Noarlunga, and the Monday lunches, things like that. And the assistance we give each other in this community. We look after each other, we are called to, it’s in our nature.
This early church is a worshipping church. They spent much time in the temple. But it’s not just about spending time at worship in a temple or a church. Worship happens everywhere, not just between the hours of 8am and 12noon on Sunday mornings in Christian places. It sounds like many aspects of the life of the early church were acts of worship, the sharing and caring. And it’s no different now, even on an individual level. I mean, I had the greatest sense of worship when I went for ride on the bike after church a few weeks ago. It was on the road between Clarendon and Meadows, and I had this feeling here, in my heart. It was joy, worship, gratitude, and I couldn’t help praising God for the wonderful feeling. We can all do this in our lives, in those special times doing things we enjoy, as well as when we are together in our beautiful church. Its just a matter of expanding our concept of worship.
Above all, that early church was a community that people wanted to be in. It was attractive because of its qualities described above. This is what I hope we are aiming for. The vision that I am working towards, a vision without form as yet, is for this parish, this community, to be a place that people can’t help but be drawn to. A place of life, worship, community, sharing. The form to this vision will come from all of us, in the parish planning process. We will all, I hope, pray about this, listen to God, and allow the Spirit to move us and inspire us. I invite you, if you haven’t started already to pray for the discernment and vision. Have a think about where we fit with these qualities of church. And how we might do better if you find we are lacking. Above all, think and pray about how we might better fulfil our mission to be Christians in this local community and to bring others to Christ. Then perhaps, day by day, the Lord will add to our number the many who are being saved.
The Lord be with you.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Easter Day 2005.
Acts 10.34-43, Ps118.1-2, 14-24, Colossians 3.1-4, Matthew 28.1-10.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
We all have our own crucifixion experiences, those times of extreme change, sadness, depression, trauma, grief, sickness, you know, those times when life as we know it seems to be coming to an end. I guess at those times, it’s good for us to remember that before a resurrection comes a crucifixion. Or perhaps more apt is to remember that after the crucifixion will be resurrection, as we then acknowledge that life is not without hardship, and we are reminded that there is hope. We are reminded of this hope, especially on the day, as we hear that in the resurrection, Christ’s cry of desolation from the cross – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is answered. As His cry was answered, so will ours be. Nothing goes on for ever except God.
There are times as a church when it all just seems a bit too hard to go on. I’ve certainly felt like that at times last year with everything that has happened in the diocese in the past 12 months. And its been a tricky time for All Saints as well, which I’m hoping Im not harping on too much. What I actually wanted to say, is to reiterate that we do have a future here at All Saints. But what is it?
What is it we that want to happen here in this place? More importantly, what does God want to happen in this place? A recreation of the glory days when the church was full, back in what, the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago? Well, that’s impossible. It just won’t happen. Too much has changed, both in the world and in the church. And within us. Our collective experiences have changed us. The passage of time has changed us. And our God has formed us into something different.
What was that? God has changed us? Well, yes. Its not a passive thing as such, well, not entirely. Because I do believe that God works in the world, and that just as God raised Christ to new life, God raises us to new life all the time. It’s not totally passive because in the very least, because for us to change we have to accept that change and work with it and through it in a growing relationship with God, just as Jesus had to accept the massive burden of the cross and the brokenness of our lives. So our efforts to maintain and grow a healthy relationship with God also ad to the transforming of our selves. We are the sum total of God and ourselves working together within ourselves and in the world.
The same thing has happened in the church, even in this parish. Yes, that’s right. This parish is not the same as it was 2 years ago, let alone 10, 20, 30 years ago. And society, the world out there is not as it was back then. It has changed. Because change always happens. It’s the one thing that doesn’t change, the fact that change always happens, and we can’t do anything to stop it, no matter how hard we try.
So we are different, the world is different. Ok, we know that. What do we do about it? What does the risen Christ tell the two women to do with the knowledge of His resurrection? To tell the others, to proclaim Christ crucified. Christ gives us the same mission. What then do we do about responding to His call? Well, I’m not entirely sure either. But the fact is that the signs here are looking good. There is a new spirit about the place, and I’m not quite vain enough to claim responsibility for it. The new spirit is about you, the faithful people of All Saints, and your developing relationship with God. You are the people who hung in there, hoping and praying for a future. You are the people who went through the transformation of a crucifixion experience. You are the people who are the embodiment of hope here in this place. I’m just another priest. In the end, whatever I do will be dependent on you. We clergy are transitional. You are the rock of this congregation. Peter was the rock on the church was to be built. On the night before Jesus died, Peter denied him three times to save his own life. Yet, soon after Jesus death and resurrection, we have Peter in the readings from the Acts of the Apostles preaching to Gentiles!!!! The impetuous Peter, always speaking without thinking it seems, is a powerful preacher, and indeed becomes the rock on which the church was built. Peter resurrected, transformed, empowered. Well, you are all Peter. You are all the rock on which this church is being built. Rock can move, it can shake, but that’s normal. Nothing in creation is invincible, immovable. But it’s the most solid thing there in creation. This planet is largely made of it. From the rock of this planet comes some of the finest riches known to humanity. From the rock of this church, this parish, some of the finest riches known to God have come, and are coming.
How does that hymn go? God gives us a future, daring us to go. We are dared by Jesus to take on the fullness of this resurrected life, to live the hope, to be able to give full account for the hope that is within us. We are not people of the crucifixion, no matter how many crosses are stuck up around the place. We are people of the resurrection!! We are being raised up!! We are here to stay, and here to grow, and here to be God’s people!!
We have work to do. Lets get on with it.
Christ is risen. Alleluia.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Acts 10.34-43, Ps118.1-2, 14-24, Colossians 3.1-4, Matthew 28.1-10.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
We all have our own crucifixion experiences, those times of extreme change, sadness, depression, trauma, grief, sickness, you know, those times when life as we know it seems to be coming to an end. I guess at those times, it’s good for us to remember that before a resurrection comes a crucifixion. Or perhaps more apt is to remember that after the crucifixion will be resurrection, as we then acknowledge that life is not without hardship, and we are reminded that there is hope. We are reminded of this hope, especially on the day, as we hear that in the resurrection, Christ’s cry of desolation from the cross – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is answered. As His cry was answered, so will ours be. Nothing goes on for ever except God.
There are times as a church when it all just seems a bit too hard to go on. I’ve certainly felt like that at times last year with everything that has happened in the diocese in the past 12 months. And its been a tricky time for All Saints as well, which I’m hoping Im not harping on too much. What I actually wanted to say, is to reiterate that we do have a future here at All Saints. But what is it?
What is it we that want to happen here in this place? More importantly, what does God want to happen in this place? A recreation of the glory days when the church was full, back in what, the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago? Well, that’s impossible. It just won’t happen. Too much has changed, both in the world and in the church. And within us. Our collective experiences have changed us. The passage of time has changed us. And our God has formed us into something different.
What was that? God has changed us? Well, yes. Its not a passive thing as such, well, not entirely. Because I do believe that God works in the world, and that just as God raised Christ to new life, God raises us to new life all the time. It’s not totally passive because in the very least, because for us to change we have to accept that change and work with it and through it in a growing relationship with God, just as Jesus had to accept the massive burden of the cross and the brokenness of our lives. So our efforts to maintain and grow a healthy relationship with God also ad to the transforming of our selves. We are the sum total of God and ourselves working together within ourselves and in the world.
The same thing has happened in the church, even in this parish. Yes, that’s right. This parish is not the same as it was 2 years ago, let alone 10, 20, 30 years ago. And society, the world out there is not as it was back then. It has changed. Because change always happens. It’s the one thing that doesn’t change, the fact that change always happens, and we can’t do anything to stop it, no matter how hard we try.
So we are different, the world is different. Ok, we know that. What do we do about it? What does the risen Christ tell the two women to do with the knowledge of His resurrection? To tell the others, to proclaim Christ crucified. Christ gives us the same mission. What then do we do about responding to His call? Well, I’m not entirely sure either. But the fact is that the signs here are looking good. There is a new spirit about the place, and I’m not quite vain enough to claim responsibility for it. The new spirit is about you, the faithful people of All Saints, and your developing relationship with God. You are the people who hung in there, hoping and praying for a future. You are the people who went through the transformation of a crucifixion experience. You are the people who are the embodiment of hope here in this place. I’m just another priest. In the end, whatever I do will be dependent on you. We clergy are transitional. You are the rock of this congregation. Peter was the rock on the church was to be built. On the night before Jesus died, Peter denied him three times to save his own life. Yet, soon after Jesus death and resurrection, we have Peter in the readings from the Acts of the Apostles preaching to Gentiles!!!! The impetuous Peter, always speaking without thinking it seems, is a powerful preacher, and indeed becomes the rock on which the church was built. Peter resurrected, transformed, empowered. Well, you are all Peter. You are all the rock on which this church is being built. Rock can move, it can shake, but that’s normal. Nothing in creation is invincible, immovable. But it’s the most solid thing there in creation. This planet is largely made of it. From the rock of this planet comes some of the finest riches known to humanity. From the rock of this church, this parish, some of the finest riches known to God have come, and are coming.
How does that hymn go? God gives us a future, daring us to go. We are dared by Jesus to take on the fullness of this resurrected life, to live the hope, to be able to give full account for the hope that is within us. We are not people of the crucifixion, no matter how many crosses are stuck up around the place. We are people of the resurrection!! We are being raised up!! We are here to stay, and here to grow, and here to be God’s people!!
We have work to do. Lets get on with it.
Christ is risen. Alleluia.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Palm Sunday 2005.
Isaiah 50.4-9a, Ps31.9-18, Phillipians 2.5-11, Matthew 26.14-27.66.
It was interesting to have had two sets of royals in the country recently. Well, one and half sets really, since Camilla didn’t come out. What was interesting about it was to see the difference in the popularity of them.
Now, overwhelmingly, the popular royals were the Danes, Crown Prince Frederik and his gorgeous Tasmanian wife Princess Mary. Prince Charles and his absent fiancé Camilla just aren’t in the race. I mean, if we were able to vote for a king, Charles would not get the gong. I think it would be Fred and Mary for sure. But the thing is, who we want and who we get are two different things. Our desire and the reality don’t match up. Although having said all of that, I have to confess I’m a republican, so don’t really care for having a royal family anyway. But I digress. The fact is, if we have to have royals, I would prefer Fred and Mary, and a lot of others would too.
I mean, they fit the idea we have better, don’t they. We identify with them, these two attractive, regal, stately people, who are able to talk to us normal folk, yet be different, aloof, move in high places. Charles has, it seems, been a bit of a mess up for a lot of his life, had a rather distasteful marriage, affairs during it, a messy divorce, a late ex-wife who I’m sure would be made a saint if we could do so, and who most people see as having been treated rather abominably. Then there’s Camilla, the other woman in the Royal marriage, who just isn’t very popular at all. Former aristocratic party girl, she is seen mainly as a home wrecker, and none of us can understand what Charley actually sees in her. But in the end, when the Queen finally retires or whatever it is that Queens do, Prince Charles will become king. The person we want and the person we will get are two different things that will never be reconciled.
Many of the people of Jerusalem were expecting a certain type of Messiah.
The messiah they were expecting was supposed to be a warrior king, a person who would release them from the yoke of the Roman empire, who would drive out the aliens in their land (that’s foreigners, not E.T), restore the observance of the law, give them back their land, and they would live in happily ever after. God would be their God, and they would be God’s people. Not a bad thing to wish for. But the reality was that they got this more simple and humble prophet talking peace and compassion. Quite a contrast really.
There is a book by a New Zealand Christian author, Joy Cowley. It’s a collection of modern Psalms, called Aotearoa Psalms. Some of the people who came to the Lenten Study this year have heard me talk about this already. Here is my favourite. Its called Palm Sunday.
No donkey this time,
But a borrowed Honda 550.
Jesus riding into town
In a black leather jacket,
Jeans frayed at the knees,
And L O V E tattooed on the knuckles
Of his right hand.
Those who saw him
Said His smile was like the sun,
Warming shadowed corners
And causing the way to blossom unexpectedly.
Those who saw him
Told of all the light left over
To be taken home
And set in eyes and hearts
And at windows for strangers.
It was a miracle, they said.
The rest of us missed it,
We were in another part of the city,
Waiting for the messiah.
Who was the messiah those people were waiting for? Not this hippy dude on a bike, with his jail-house tattoos and old jeans. It wasn’t the suffering servant of the Isaiah reading, the one who is struck and spat on and has his beard pulled. Was it this humble, obedient one, who was God, yet God emptied out of his own accord, the one that Paul writes about to the Philippians? It would seem not. So when the expectation didn’t match the reality, they were very quick to reject, rather than revise their expectations and explore the possibilities, especially the possibility that perhaps God works in a vastly different way to the expected. So a relatively short time after welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, they call for his death.
Who is the messiah we are waiting for?
What is the picture we carry, the image of Jesus we would keep in our wallets and purses if it were possible?
Palm Sunday is a good time to think again about who we think Jesus is. It’s a good time to review our personal image, our wish list for our messiah. It’s a good time to widen the horizons, look out for the unusual, look beyond ourselves. Because if we don’t, then we might just miss him when he does ride into town.
Keep your eyes peeled. Keep an open mind. Listen to your hearts, and you will see the real messiah. One day.
Amen.
Isaiah 50.4-9a, Ps31.9-18, Phillipians 2.5-11, Matthew 26.14-27.66.
It was interesting to have had two sets of royals in the country recently. Well, one and half sets really, since Camilla didn’t come out. What was interesting about it was to see the difference in the popularity of them.
Now, overwhelmingly, the popular royals were the Danes, Crown Prince Frederik and his gorgeous Tasmanian wife Princess Mary. Prince Charles and his absent fiancé Camilla just aren’t in the race. I mean, if we were able to vote for a king, Charles would not get the gong. I think it would be Fred and Mary for sure. But the thing is, who we want and who we get are two different things. Our desire and the reality don’t match up. Although having said all of that, I have to confess I’m a republican, so don’t really care for having a royal family anyway. But I digress. The fact is, if we have to have royals, I would prefer Fred and Mary, and a lot of others would too.
I mean, they fit the idea we have better, don’t they. We identify with them, these two attractive, regal, stately people, who are able to talk to us normal folk, yet be different, aloof, move in high places. Charles has, it seems, been a bit of a mess up for a lot of his life, had a rather distasteful marriage, affairs during it, a messy divorce, a late ex-wife who I’m sure would be made a saint if we could do so, and who most people see as having been treated rather abominably. Then there’s Camilla, the other woman in the Royal marriage, who just isn’t very popular at all. Former aristocratic party girl, she is seen mainly as a home wrecker, and none of us can understand what Charley actually sees in her. But in the end, when the Queen finally retires or whatever it is that Queens do, Prince Charles will become king. The person we want and the person we will get are two different things that will never be reconciled.
Many of the people of Jerusalem were expecting a certain type of Messiah.
The messiah they were expecting was supposed to be a warrior king, a person who would release them from the yoke of the Roman empire, who would drive out the aliens in their land (that’s foreigners, not E.T), restore the observance of the law, give them back their land, and they would live in happily ever after. God would be their God, and they would be God’s people. Not a bad thing to wish for. But the reality was that they got this more simple and humble prophet talking peace and compassion. Quite a contrast really.
There is a book by a New Zealand Christian author, Joy Cowley. It’s a collection of modern Psalms, called Aotearoa Psalms. Some of the people who came to the Lenten Study this year have heard me talk about this already. Here is my favourite. Its called Palm Sunday.
No donkey this time,
But a borrowed Honda 550.
Jesus riding into town
In a black leather jacket,
Jeans frayed at the knees,
And L O V E tattooed on the knuckles
Of his right hand.
Those who saw him
Said His smile was like the sun,
Warming shadowed corners
And causing the way to blossom unexpectedly.
Those who saw him
Told of all the light left over
To be taken home
And set in eyes and hearts
And at windows for strangers.
It was a miracle, they said.
The rest of us missed it,
We were in another part of the city,
Waiting for the messiah.
Who was the messiah those people were waiting for? Not this hippy dude on a bike, with his jail-house tattoos and old jeans. It wasn’t the suffering servant of the Isaiah reading, the one who is struck and spat on and has his beard pulled. Was it this humble, obedient one, who was God, yet God emptied out of his own accord, the one that Paul writes about to the Philippians? It would seem not. So when the expectation didn’t match the reality, they were very quick to reject, rather than revise their expectations and explore the possibilities, especially the possibility that perhaps God works in a vastly different way to the expected. So a relatively short time after welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, they call for his death.
Who is the messiah we are waiting for?
What is the picture we carry, the image of Jesus we would keep in our wallets and purses if it were possible?
Palm Sunday is a good time to think again about who we think Jesus is. It’s a good time to review our personal image, our wish list for our messiah. It’s a good time to widen the horizons, look out for the unusual, look beyond ourselves. Because if we don’t, then we might just miss him when he does ride into town.
Keep your eyes peeled. Keep an open mind. Listen to your hearts, and you will see the real messiah. One day.
Amen.
Lent 5, 2005.
Ezekiel 37.1-14, Ps130, Romans 8.6-11, John 11.1-45.
I’m going to live for ever, or die trying.
My son and I often communicate on the internet. The son I’m referring to is Liam, the 17 year old one, who lives with his mother down south. We chat through a program called MSN Messenger. Now with this program you can give yourself a nickname, and often people type in witty things instead of a name, sayings, quotes, etc. I have to say my son’s got a good sense of humour, very much into Monty Python and things like that, inherited from his dad perhaps, just as mine was inherited from my dad. So often he will put something funny on his nickname. At present he has this one “I will live forever or die trying”.
Now there is an element of truth in this, a reflection of reality. Many good comedians take everyday life and twist it, exaggerate it or reflect it back, and in the absurdity of it all we see the funny side of life. Much social comment is made by comedians – in fact, often we are caught off guard by when the joke has a sting in its tail. It can be cutting sarcasm, irony, absurdity, and it’s very effective for changing the way people think. Comedy is often just slightly removed from tragedy, just a touch. But it is all based in reality, very heavily, even the absurd Monty Python and goon show stuff. There has to be a common point of reference for the joke to work. So when we hear that line about living forever or dying trying, we laugh at the contradiction but we also relate to the reality of the statement. Because most of us will die trying to live forever.
Is it reasonable to want to live forever? If we go back to last week where I spoke about the concept of healing, I think many people see the healing they need is to become immortal. I mean, if we are to be healed of every sickness that we can possibly become afflicted with, every problem we can have with our bodies, then this is where we end up - immortality. It’s the only full healing we could get. We would be asking for the genetic issues we have in our bodies that lead to the breakdown of the body that will be the death of us to be fixed. Most people, deep down, would love that genetic manipulation that will keep us alive forever.
Why do we want this? Well, because we fear death, basically. It’s a barrier we cant normally cross and come back. It’s a border with almost exclusively one way traffic. We fear the fact that there is not the option to return. We fear the unknown aspect of death, the loss of security in this world. Death makes us feel vulnerable, inconsequential. We fear the change that death brings upon us. We fear the end of what we have known. So when we read this mornings Gospel reading, we instantly identify with Jesus raising Lazarus. I mean, to be saved from death like that would give most of us great comfort – we think. Yet this raising is only a part of it, and as Jesus says, it is an illustration of the grace and power of God the Father. It is not what we are all promised. It was not a resurrection as such, but a resuscitation. Lazarus was restored to human life, only to die again later on. Lazarus in a sense was perhaps the unlucky one. I mean, if death is the path to resurrection to a better life, then Lazarus has struck out. He was brought back to his earthly life, to keep going through all that existence stuff, all the worry about that people go through in life, working, relationships, persecutions, all that. I mean, if it happened in these times, it would mean a death certificate would have been written out, and legally, even coming back from the dead would be difficult. Imagine all the red tape involved in proving you were really alive again? Still, I suppose you could think about that whilst spending your life insurance. But then after all of this, he has to die again! That’s not healing I reckon. That’s not resurrection. Resurrection is something else.
This reading of course points us towards Good Friday, and Jesus death. That is where we are headed. This event is the beginning of a chain of events that will lead to Jesus death on the cross. Yet it is also pointing beyond that as well. When we consider the crucifixion, we don’t consider it as the end point. Sure, it is the end of something, the end of Jesus life as a mortal, the end of that part of His ministry. But after the crucifixion came the resurrection, so when we consider Jesus’ death, we also consider his resurrection and his new life. They go together. We embrace the pain of the remembrance of His death, but with the assurance of the His new life to come. There is hope in this. A great hope.
Yet even there, Jesus goes beyond this future hope. Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise again. Martha agrees that yes, he will be raised on the last day. Jesus brings it back to the present “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” This is not just some end time promise, believe now, receive later, but a promise that is here and now. Jesus, even before He is crucified, is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is talking about sharing His life here and now and forever. It is an understanding of the story that moves beyond the literal. I mean, if we stuck with the literal base level meaning, the story would be quite ridiculous really. I mean, why raise Lazarus so he can die again? It just doesn’t make sense. But if we look beyond the literal interpretation, we see a sharing of life that is present, past and future. It is eternal. Lazarus is indeed brought into the kingdom, but it is the kingdom now. We have promises of eternal life, of a resurrection awaiting us, and we live in the hope of this. But the hope of the future is nothing without a hope in the present. Eschatological predictions are useless if the risen life of Christ is not lived out in the present. The end will come when it will come. But the present is here, and the resurrection must be lived in now. I think one of the key sentences is the last thing Jesus says in this passage. “Unbind him, and let him go”. How bound up are we in particular patterns of life, fears and habits, falsehoods, and all that other stuff we justify our lives with? How bound up are we in rules that do not serve ourselves or others? How bound up are we in trying to make a better future when the present isn’t the best either? Jesus offers us freedom from this stuff. Jesus offers us a resurrected life now. But He’s not going to force us. Just as Jesus called to Lazarus to find his way out of the tomb, so Jesus calls us to leave our living deaths, and to embrace a freed existence in his resurrection.
We are called to freedom in Jesus service. Accept that call, embrace this existence. Live freely and fully, love completely.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
Ezekiel 37.1-14, Ps130, Romans 8.6-11, John 11.1-45.
I’m going to live for ever, or die trying.
My son and I often communicate on the internet. The son I’m referring to is Liam, the 17 year old one, who lives with his mother down south. We chat through a program called MSN Messenger. Now with this program you can give yourself a nickname, and often people type in witty things instead of a name, sayings, quotes, etc. I have to say my son’s got a good sense of humour, very much into Monty Python and things like that, inherited from his dad perhaps, just as mine was inherited from my dad. So often he will put something funny on his nickname. At present he has this one “I will live forever or die trying”.
Now there is an element of truth in this, a reflection of reality. Many good comedians take everyday life and twist it, exaggerate it or reflect it back, and in the absurdity of it all we see the funny side of life. Much social comment is made by comedians – in fact, often we are caught off guard by when the joke has a sting in its tail. It can be cutting sarcasm, irony, absurdity, and it’s very effective for changing the way people think. Comedy is often just slightly removed from tragedy, just a touch. But it is all based in reality, very heavily, even the absurd Monty Python and goon show stuff. There has to be a common point of reference for the joke to work. So when we hear that line about living forever or dying trying, we laugh at the contradiction but we also relate to the reality of the statement. Because most of us will die trying to live forever.
Is it reasonable to want to live forever? If we go back to last week where I spoke about the concept of healing, I think many people see the healing they need is to become immortal. I mean, if we are to be healed of every sickness that we can possibly become afflicted with, every problem we can have with our bodies, then this is where we end up - immortality. It’s the only full healing we could get. We would be asking for the genetic issues we have in our bodies that lead to the breakdown of the body that will be the death of us to be fixed. Most people, deep down, would love that genetic manipulation that will keep us alive forever.
Why do we want this? Well, because we fear death, basically. It’s a barrier we cant normally cross and come back. It’s a border with almost exclusively one way traffic. We fear the fact that there is not the option to return. We fear the unknown aspect of death, the loss of security in this world. Death makes us feel vulnerable, inconsequential. We fear the change that death brings upon us. We fear the end of what we have known. So when we read this mornings Gospel reading, we instantly identify with Jesus raising Lazarus. I mean, to be saved from death like that would give most of us great comfort – we think. Yet this raising is only a part of it, and as Jesus says, it is an illustration of the grace and power of God the Father. It is not what we are all promised. It was not a resurrection as such, but a resuscitation. Lazarus was restored to human life, only to die again later on. Lazarus in a sense was perhaps the unlucky one. I mean, if death is the path to resurrection to a better life, then Lazarus has struck out. He was brought back to his earthly life, to keep going through all that existence stuff, all the worry about that people go through in life, working, relationships, persecutions, all that. I mean, if it happened in these times, it would mean a death certificate would have been written out, and legally, even coming back from the dead would be difficult. Imagine all the red tape involved in proving you were really alive again? Still, I suppose you could think about that whilst spending your life insurance. But then after all of this, he has to die again! That’s not healing I reckon. That’s not resurrection. Resurrection is something else.
This reading of course points us towards Good Friday, and Jesus death. That is where we are headed. This event is the beginning of a chain of events that will lead to Jesus death on the cross. Yet it is also pointing beyond that as well. When we consider the crucifixion, we don’t consider it as the end point. Sure, it is the end of something, the end of Jesus life as a mortal, the end of that part of His ministry. But after the crucifixion came the resurrection, so when we consider Jesus’ death, we also consider his resurrection and his new life. They go together. We embrace the pain of the remembrance of His death, but with the assurance of the His new life to come. There is hope in this. A great hope.
Yet even there, Jesus goes beyond this future hope. Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise again. Martha agrees that yes, he will be raised on the last day. Jesus brings it back to the present “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” This is not just some end time promise, believe now, receive later, but a promise that is here and now. Jesus, even before He is crucified, is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is talking about sharing His life here and now and forever. It is an understanding of the story that moves beyond the literal. I mean, if we stuck with the literal base level meaning, the story would be quite ridiculous really. I mean, why raise Lazarus so he can die again? It just doesn’t make sense. But if we look beyond the literal interpretation, we see a sharing of life that is present, past and future. It is eternal. Lazarus is indeed brought into the kingdom, but it is the kingdom now. We have promises of eternal life, of a resurrection awaiting us, and we live in the hope of this. But the hope of the future is nothing without a hope in the present. Eschatological predictions are useless if the risen life of Christ is not lived out in the present. The end will come when it will come. But the present is here, and the resurrection must be lived in now. I think one of the key sentences is the last thing Jesus says in this passage. “Unbind him, and let him go”. How bound up are we in particular patterns of life, fears and habits, falsehoods, and all that other stuff we justify our lives with? How bound up are we in rules that do not serve ourselves or others? How bound up are we in trying to make a better future when the present isn’t the best either? Jesus offers us freedom from this stuff. Jesus offers us a resurrected life now. But He’s not going to force us. Just as Jesus called to Lazarus to find his way out of the tomb, so Jesus calls us to leave our living deaths, and to embrace a freed existence in his resurrection.
We are called to freedom in Jesus service. Accept that call, embrace this existence. Live freely and fully, love completely.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
Lent 4, 2005
1 Samuel 16.1-13, Ps23, Ephesians 5.8-14, John 9.1-41.
In the Australian newspaper yesterday was a story of a little boy, referred to as Jeremey, about his short and tragic life. Perhaps it was ironic that the story was printed the day before the traditional celebration of mothering Sunday. This boy was murdered by hideous monsters, barely human sexual abusers of children. He had 10 cigarette burns on his chest. His older sister was also abused, sexually and violently. They were abused by their “babysitters” who were men their mother hardly knew, who were known paedophiles, and who had care of the children for very long periods. It seems there mum didn’t really care about them enough to ensure their safety. One wonders why she had them in the first place.
There was a history of complaints made to the relevant authorities about the welfare of these kids, and nothing much seems to have been ever done. The girl, the older of the kids, even told her mother what was going on, and she didn’t act, or didn’t care, or something. Departmental authorities made assumptions that these children were someone else’s responsibility it seems, someone else’s problems, and either handpassed them or just sat on their hands, the result being that the kids suffered horribly before Jeremy died. The abusers have been brought to justice, although what justice could there ever really be? And at what price is that justice? It took a little boy’s torturing and death to bring it about. The children have been let down by the very people that should have protected them, including their mother. Death by bureaucracy. The young girl is still alive, but undoubtedly scarred. I hope that one day she will recover.
In Rwanda, in 1994, 800,000 people were slaughtered. It was attempted genocide, the killing of the minority Tutsi people by the Hutu majority in that country. There were UN Forces in the country, and the rest of the world new about this massacre, but did nothing. The UN forces were in the country carrying out a monitoring role, and many of them did just that, sticking to the letter of their mandate and refusing to take action that might save lives. Some did shelter potential victims but only until the soldiers were evacuated. And the massacre went on. The United States Government’s State Department spokeswoman at that time was asked if what was happening in Rwanda was genocide. She responds,
"...the use of the term 'genocide' has a very precise legal meaning, although it's not strictly a legal determination. There are other factors in there as well."
Yet again, bureaucracy, red tape, diplomacy and legal mumbo-jumbo caused those who had the power to save to instead just sit on their hands while hundreds of thousands of people died. Disgusting, isn’t it?
A story told by a Priest who was living in Jerusalem for a year or two.
A car accident occurred in an area where ultra-orthodox Jews lived. It was the Sabbath, the day of rest of Jews. The occupants of the vehicle were very badly injured. When a person trying to help them went to a house to telephone for an ambulance, they were asked if the injured were Jews. But the accident victims were not Jewish. So the use of the phone was refused. One of the injured persons died. You see, it is only ok for them to act to save a life on the Sabbath if it is a Jew. They wouldn’t bend this rule. And to them, this was a rule that God had given them. They thought that their relationship with God was based on carrying out this rule, even if a non-Jew had to die for that relationship to succeed. Is this really what a relationship with God is based on? NO!
Now let’s look at our Gospel reading. Jesus is reported to have helped a man, blind since birth, to see. I won’t go into the grossness of the spit mud mixture, but the fact is this man can see, for the first time in his life. The problem is that this occurred on the Sabbath. And healing is not allowed on the Sabbath with few exceptions. Now, the strange thing, the dead give-away here, is the reaction of the Pharisees. They seem to miss the point that a man born blind can now see. I’ll say that again – a man born blind can now see! Wouldn’t most of us at least be a little amazed at this? Wouldn’t this be the focus of our attention? Well, not for these Pharisees. They can’t see this miracle for what it is. And it’s more than the gaining of sight, for it is also the fact that a person considered a sinner, and unclean and not allowed to participate in society because of his disability, is made clean. Perhaps the washing in the pool of Siloam is symbolic of this. The outsider is made an insider, a very common theme with Jesus. Well, the Pharisees are more concerned with a violation of the rules they hold so dear than with this supreme evidence of God’s grace and love. And they cast this man out, they punish the healed man for his belief in Jesus, which is ironic really since this man was an outsider when he was blind, and they make him an outsider again, even though he is now clean and there is no barrier to him being a full member of society.
The fact is that the healing Jesus offers us is always available, regardless of the day or the month or the year or the hour. It’s the manner that we may need to consider. We tend to think of healing in terms of making us better, of fixing up the broken bit of us, physical healing. That happens, and I want to acknowledge that. But often the healing is in the acceptance of the broken bit, to the point that it is no longer a broken bit but a different bit. It is a different ability, not a disability. The discovery that God moves with all people regardless of health and abilities is the true miracle and wonder in all of this. The fact that Jesus says so clearly at the beginning of the reading that a person’s abilities or state of health are not rewards or punishments from God tells us that God’s grace is available to all peoples. That’s the real wonder of Jesus healing powers, and this inclusiveness is what makes it divine.
I think that Jesus actually turns the tables on the able-disable thing. He shows us that the disabled are not those who are physically blind, or deaf, or ill, or leprous. The truly disabled, the ones who live a life that is deficient and unhappy and unhealthy are those who fail to see that God’s grace is open to all peoples. These are the people who apply rules to admit some and exclude others to their churches. These are the people for whom the two great commandments are not sufficient, who want great long purity codes to justify their own inhuman bigotry. These people are the disabled, the true disabled. They are not whole. The Pharisees ask at the end of the passage “Surely we are not blind, are we?” The answer, we know, is yes.
So I encourage you this morning, to seek the healing that is really needed in this world, the healing that will help us accept our brothers and sisters in Christ whoever and wherever and what ever they be. And accept ourselves as well. It all begins at home you know.
The Lord be with you.
1 Samuel 16.1-13, Ps23, Ephesians 5.8-14, John 9.1-41.
In the Australian newspaper yesterday was a story of a little boy, referred to as Jeremey, about his short and tragic life. Perhaps it was ironic that the story was printed the day before the traditional celebration of mothering Sunday. This boy was murdered by hideous monsters, barely human sexual abusers of children. He had 10 cigarette burns on his chest. His older sister was also abused, sexually and violently. They were abused by their “babysitters” who were men their mother hardly knew, who were known paedophiles, and who had care of the children for very long periods. It seems there mum didn’t really care about them enough to ensure their safety. One wonders why she had them in the first place.
There was a history of complaints made to the relevant authorities about the welfare of these kids, and nothing much seems to have been ever done. The girl, the older of the kids, even told her mother what was going on, and she didn’t act, or didn’t care, or something. Departmental authorities made assumptions that these children were someone else’s responsibility it seems, someone else’s problems, and either handpassed them or just sat on their hands, the result being that the kids suffered horribly before Jeremy died. The abusers have been brought to justice, although what justice could there ever really be? And at what price is that justice? It took a little boy’s torturing and death to bring it about. The children have been let down by the very people that should have protected them, including their mother. Death by bureaucracy. The young girl is still alive, but undoubtedly scarred. I hope that one day she will recover.
In Rwanda, in 1994, 800,000 people were slaughtered. It was attempted genocide, the killing of the minority Tutsi people by the Hutu majority in that country. There were UN Forces in the country, and the rest of the world new about this massacre, but did nothing. The UN forces were in the country carrying out a monitoring role, and many of them did just that, sticking to the letter of their mandate and refusing to take action that might save lives. Some did shelter potential victims but only until the soldiers were evacuated. And the massacre went on. The United States Government’s State Department spokeswoman at that time was asked if what was happening in Rwanda was genocide. She responds,
"...the use of the term 'genocide' has a very precise legal meaning, although it's not strictly a legal determination. There are other factors in there as well."
Yet again, bureaucracy, red tape, diplomacy and legal mumbo-jumbo caused those who had the power to save to instead just sit on their hands while hundreds of thousands of people died. Disgusting, isn’t it?
A story told by a Priest who was living in Jerusalem for a year or two.
A car accident occurred in an area where ultra-orthodox Jews lived. It was the Sabbath, the day of rest of Jews. The occupants of the vehicle were very badly injured. When a person trying to help them went to a house to telephone for an ambulance, they were asked if the injured were Jews. But the accident victims were not Jewish. So the use of the phone was refused. One of the injured persons died. You see, it is only ok for them to act to save a life on the Sabbath if it is a Jew. They wouldn’t bend this rule. And to them, this was a rule that God had given them. They thought that their relationship with God was based on carrying out this rule, even if a non-Jew had to die for that relationship to succeed. Is this really what a relationship with God is based on? NO!
Now let’s look at our Gospel reading. Jesus is reported to have helped a man, blind since birth, to see. I won’t go into the grossness of the spit mud mixture, but the fact is this man can see, for the first time in his life. The problem is that this occurred on the Sabbath. And healing is not allowed on the Sabbath with few exceptions. Now, the strange thing, the dead give-away here, is the reaction of the Pharisees. They seem to miss the point that a man born blind can now see. I’ll say that again – a man born blind can now see! Wouldn’t most of us at least be a little amazed at this? Wouldn’t this be the focus of our attention? Well, not for these Pharisees. They can’t see this miracle for what it is. And it’s more than the gaining of sight, for it is also the fact that a person considered a sinner, and unclean and not allowed to participate in society because of his disability, is made clean. Perhaps the washing in the pool of Siloam is symbolic of this. The outsider is made an insider, a very common theme with Jesus. Well, the Pharisees are more concerned with a violation of the rules they hold so dear than with this supreme evidence of God’s grace and love. And they cast this man out, they punish the healed man for his belief in Jesus, which is ironic really since this man was an outsider when he was blind, and they make him an outsider again, even though he is now clean and there is no barrier to him being a full member of society.
The fact is that the healing Jesus offers us is always available, regardless of the day or the month or the year or the hour. It’s the manner that we may need to consider. We tend to think of healing in terms of making us better, of fixing up the broken bit of us, physical healing. That happens, and I want to acknowledge that. But often the healing is in the acceptance of the broken bit, to the point that it is no longer a broken bit but a different bit. It is a different ability, not a disability. The discovery that God moves with all people regardless of health and abilities is the true miracle and wonder in all of this. The fact that Jesus says so clearly at the beginning of the reading that a person’s abilities or state of health are not rewards or punishments from God tells us that God’s grace is available to all peoples. That’s the real wonder of Jesus healing powers, and this inclusiveness is what makes it divine.
I think that Jesus actually turns the tables on the able-disable thing. He shows us that the disabled are not those who are physically blind, or deaf, or ill, or leprous. The truly disabled, the ones who live a life that is deficient and unhappy and unhealthy are those who fail to see that God’s grace is open to all peoples. These are the people who apply rules to admit some and exclude others to their churches. These are the people for whom the two great commandments are not sufficient, who want great long purity codes to justify their own inhuman bigotry. These people are the disabled, the true disabled. They are not whole. The Pharisees ask at the end of the passage “Surely we are not blind, are we?” The answer, we know, is yes.
So I encourage you this morning, to seek the healing that is really needed in this world, the healing that will help us accept our brothers and sisters in Christ whoever and wherever and what ever they be. And accept ourselves as well. It all begins at home you know.
The Lord be with you.
Third Sunday in Lent 2005
Exodus 17.1-7, Ps95, Romans 5.1-11, John 4.5-42.
Risk.
Moses took a huge risk in leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. I mean, its always a risk leading a group of people on a journey, be it spiritual, emotional or an actual physical journey. But this one was out into unknown territory, through the wilderness for 40 years, wandering, surviving on what they could and faith in their God. So whenever the faith of the people flags, whenever it gets a bit tough, Moses is the one who cops the complaints. He is the focus of the whinging. So it must have been a pretty tough job for him.
Its not as though the people had nothing to whinge about though, it must be said. Water is essential for life. If we don’t have a certain intake of water each and every day, which varies according to the conditions in which we live, then we will die. And none of us wants to die sooner than we have to. So it is understandable that they remember life in Egypt, with water and food, with fondness and longing. At least they were fed and watered there. Even if they were slaves.
It’s often easy to look back on the better days. The passage of time and present difficulties make the negative parts of previous existence a bit harder to remember, as we compare where we are to where we have been. Because we will always compare, its how we make value judgements, and comparing our present to our past is inevitable and natural. Dire circumstances in the present will usually lead to the past being viewed favourably. It’s a part of our nature, and there’s nothing wrong with it in this sense. What we don’t often see, however, is the hope for the future.
With wandering around the wilderness for 40 years its probably understandable that the future hope will at times seem a little distant. The Israelites are often held up as a negative example in this respect, yet they are human, like the rest of us. We will all lose hope at times when things are looking bad. It’s not something to beat ourselves up about though, it is to be human. If I were never to have moments of despondency, those dark times of the soul, then I would not be real. And I don’t think I would be a true Christian. I mean, even Jesus had his moment of despair and depression in the Garden of Gethsemane, so powerfully portrayed in the film ‘The Passion of the Christ’. So why should we expect ourselves to be better than this? I guess though that Jesus worked through this despair and God’s promise was fulfilled. Just as it was with the Israelites, even though it took quite a while. The risks for the Israelites of escaping slavery were worth it eventually. Jesus’ risk of taking on the established power structures of the time, and being killed by the power structures of humanity, were vindicated in the end. It was all worthwhile, because the promises were fulfilled. Hope lived.
How do we expect God’s promises to be fulfilled? How does hope live on?
There are many who think that by prayer alone, God’s promises will be fulfilled. That in order for a good outcome, for healing, or whatever else is the desired outcome, just prayer will make it happen. Now I don’t want to say that it doesn’t happen, because it does. What I am saying is that often we need to do the work as well.
There was a man who every week prayed for a win in Lotto. Every week, just before the drawer, he prayed and prayed, but he never won the lottery, not a cent. Finally, after 10 years of this, he was getting a little bit angry with God, and he told God that he was angry. “God, why won’t you make me win the lotto. You’ve let me down.” Shaking his fist towards the heavens. To this man’s surprise, God answered and said to him “Look, give me a break. You could have at least bought a lotto ticket.”
Sitting about waiting for the outcome we desire won’t make it happen. It’s through prayerfully discerned action and taking risk that God works in us. When Moses asked God about the water situation, God didn’t just say “Ok, here’s the water” – ZAP – and an oasis appeared. Or a spring water cooler. No, God sent Moses and the people on to a place where water was more likely to be, and told Moses what to do to get it. It was a partnership, with action on both sides, not a magician’s trick, or a bolt from the blue. It was the people of God who were prepared to be proactive in achieving their outcome, a people who were prepared to take action, take a risk.
Jesus took a risk in this mornings gospel reading. This woman at the well was a Samaritan, of course, so in that sense was not the sort of person that Jesus, a Judean Jew, could or would normally associate with. Jesus’ people hated samaratins. They were half breeds, inferior, unclean. And being an unaccompanied woman, it is more than a little scandalous that Jesus would speak to her on her own. But perhaps the most telling part of the risk is in the woman’s circumstances. We are told it was noon, when Jesus stopped at the well, and she came to draw water. Women usually went to wells to draw water early in the morning and later in the afternoon, at dusk. That this woman went at lunchtime signifies that she is an outsider. She has possibly been shunned. If you add to this what Jesus tells her about her marriage status, we see that she may be a promiscuous woman. Some commentators go as far as to say she is the town prostitute. Whatever her perceived sin or social standing, we know that she is a person that felt she had to collect water when no others would be around. Jesus took a risk speaking to this woman. There was a risk in terms of his state of religious cleanliness. This woman was unclean, so association with her would make Jesus unclean. But there is also a risk that being seen with this woman may associate himself with her and the reason she is ostracised, and this could lead to Jesus himself being ostracised. Her bad reputation could rub off on him.
I’m sure we have all had times when we have had similar pressures. It happens in the school yard, and in all other parts of society. Certainly the way the previous Archbishop has been ostracised is an example, whether it is able to be proved to be justifiable or not. The behaviour is the same. To be seen with a certain person is to be seen to be a collaborator, a fellow sinner. This goes a little further then and exclusion is more active than just avoiding. So Jesus risked this.
But Jesus was like that. He took risks. He took risks both because he had to, his very being was grounded in it, and because he always knew hope. He knew the hope because he was the hope. In the same way, we are also called to take the risks, to risk exclusion in the pursuit of justice and hope. And to ensure the continuation of the Kingdom and the growth of God’s church. It’s not always going to be easy, but then it’s not always going to be hard. Risk means a possibility of failure. But not to take a risk will usually ensure failure is inevitable. We don’t stay at home because it is too dangerous to go out. And lets face it, every time we drive, we are at the mercy of God knows how many other people. But that doesn’t stop us. Neither then should the possibility that it may take us several different tries at different things to achieve what it is we want to achieve, to be we want to be, to reach out to those we want to reach. But with prayerful action, with risk taking, we can step out in hope, take the risk and grow the kingdom. And grow ourselves, to be the Christians and the Parish we are called to be.
I want to finish by again praying the collect with you. I think it sums it all up, especially the reason and the inspiration for it all.
Let us pray together:
O God, the fountain of life, to a humanity parched with thirst you offer the living waters that spring from the Rock, our Saviour Jesus Christ:
stir up within your people the gift of your Spirit, that we may profess our faith with freshness and announce with joy the wonder of your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ , who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Exodus 17.1-7, Ps95, Romans 5.1-11, John 4.5-42.
Risk.
Moses took a huge risk in leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. I mean, its always a risk leading a group of people on a journey, be it spiritual, emotional or an actual physical journey. But this one was out into unknown territory, through the wilderness for 40 years, wandering, surviving on what they could and faith in their God. So whenever the faith of the people flags, whenever it gets a bit tough, Moses is the one who cops the complaints. He is the focus of the whinging. So it must have been a pretty tough job for him.
Its not as though the people had nothing to whinge about though, it must be said. Water is essential for life. If we don’t have a certain intake of water each and every day, which varies according to the conditions in which we live, then we will die. And none of us wants to die sooner than we have to. So it is understandable that they remember life in Egypt, with water and food, with fondness and longing. At least they were fed and watered there. Even if they were slaves.
It’s often easy to look back on the better days. The passage of time and present difficulties make the negative parts of previous existence a bit harder to remember, as we compare where we are to where we have been. Because we will always compare, its how we make value judgements, and comparing our present to our past is inevitable and natural. Dire circumstances in the present will usually lead to the past being viewed favourably. It’s a part of our nature, and there’s nothing wrong with it in this sense. What we don’t often see, however, is the hope for the future.
With wandering around the wilderness for 40 years its probably understandable that the future hope will at times seem a little distant. The Israelites are often held up as a negative example in this respect, yet they are human, like the rest of us. We will all lose hope at times when things are looking bad. It’s not something to beat ourselves up about though, it is to be human. If I were never to have moments of despondency, those dark times of the soul, then I would not be real. And I don’t think I would be a true Christian. I mean, even Jesus had his moment of despair and depression in the Garden of Gethsemane, so powerfully portrayed in the film ‘The Passion of the Christ’. So why should we expect ourselves to be better than this? I guess though that Jesus worked through this despair and God’s promise was fulfilled. Just as it was with the Israelites, even though it took quite a while. The risks for the Israelites of escaping slavery were worth it eventually. Jesus’ risk of taking on the established power structures of the time, and being killed by the power structures of humanity, were vindicated in the end. It was all worthwhile, because the promises were fulfilled. Hope lived.
How do we expect God’s promises to be fulfilled? How does hope live on?
There are many who think that by prayer alone, God’s promises will be fulfilled. That in order for a good outcome, for healing, or whatever else is the desired outcome, just prayer will make it happen. Now I don’t want to say that it doesn’t happen, because it does. What I am saying is that often we need to do the work as well.
There was a man who every week prayed for a win in Lotto. Every week, just before the drawer, he prayed and prayed, but he never won the lottery, not a cent. Finally, after 10 years of this, he was getting a little bit angry with God, and he told God that he was angry. “God, why won’t you make me win the lotto. You’ve let me down.” Shaking his fist towards the heavens. To this man’s surprise, God answered and said to him “Look, give me a break. You could have at least bought a lotto ticket.”
Sitting about waiting for the outcome we desire won’t make it happen. It’s through prayerfully discerned action and taking risk that God works in us. When Moses asked God about the water situation, God didn’t just say “Ok, here’s the water” – ZAP – and an oasis appeared. Or a spring water cooler. No, God sent Moses and the people on to a place where water was more likely to be, and told Moses what to do to get it. It was a partnership, with action on both sides, not a magician’s trick, or a bolt from the blue. It was the people of God who were prepared to be proactive in achieving their outcome, a people who were prepared to take action, take a risk.
Jesus took a risk in this mornings gospel reading. This woman at the well was a Samaritan, of course, so in that sense was not the sort of person that Jesus, a Judean Jew, could or would normally associate with. Jesus’ people hated samaratins. They were half breeds, inferior, unclean. And being an unaccompanied woman, it is more than a little scandalous that Jesus would speak to her on her own. But perhaps the most telling part of the risk is in the woman’s circumstances. We are told it was noon, when Jesus stopped at the well, and she came to draw water. Women usually went to wells to draw water early in the morning and later in the afternoon, at dusk. That this woman went at lunchtime signifies that she is an outsider. She has possibly been shunned. If you add to this what Jesus tells her about her marriage status, we see that she may be a promiscuous woman. Some commentators go as far as to say she is the town prostitute. Whatever her perceived sin or social standing, we know that she is a person that felt she had to collect water when no others would be around. Jesus took a risk speaking to this woman. There was a risk in terms of his state of religious cleanliness. This woman was unclean, so association with her would make Jesus unclean. But there is also a risk that being seen with this woman may associate himself with her and the reason she is ostracised, and this could lead to Jesus himself being ostracised. Her bad reputation could rub off on him.
I’m sure we have all had times when we have had similar pressures. It happens in the school yard, and in all other parts of society. Certainly the way the previous Archbishop has been ostracised is an example, whether it is able to be proved to be justifiable or not. The behaviour is the same. To be seen with a certain person is to be seen to be a collaborator, a fellow sinner. This goes a little further then and exclusion is more active than just avoiding. So Jesus risked this.
But Jesus was like that. He took risks. He took risks both because he had to, his very being was grounded in it, and because he always knew hope. He knew the hope because he was the hope. In the same way, we are also called to take the risks, to risk exclusion in the pursuit of justice and hope. And to ensure the continuation of the Kingdom and the growth of God’s church. It’s not always going to be easy, but then it’s not always going to be hard. Risk means a possibility of failure. But not to take a risk will usually ensure failure is inevitable. We don’t stay at home because it is too dangerous to go out. And lets face it, every time we drive, we are at the mercy of God knows how many other people. But that doesn’t stop us. Neither then should the possibility that it may take us several different tries at different things to achieve what it is we want to achieve, to be we want to be, to reach out to those we want to reach. But with prayerful action, with risk taking, we can step out in hope, take the risk and grow the kingdom. And grow ourselves, to be the Christians and the Parish we are called to be.
I want to finish by again praying the collect with you. I think it sums it all up, especially the reason and the inspiration for it all.
Let us pray together:
O God, the fountain of life, to a humanity parched with thirst you offer the living waters that spring from the Rock, our Saviour Jesus Christ:
stir up within your people the gift of your Spirit, that we may profess our faith with freshness and announce with joy the wonder of your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ , who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lent 2, 2005.
Genesis 12.1-4a, Ps121, Romans 4.1-5, 13-17, John 3.1-17.
There is nothing more confusing than a self-service shop where nothing is easy to find.
I went to Bunning’s yesterday, to get a couple of things. Have you been there? It’s massive. It has everything, even a café. But it’s too massive. It’s just bewildering. I hated it.
There is just too much on display there, and all stacked up to the rafters, and when you look at it, you mind spins. It was not a pleasant experience. I got out of there with my sanity, but only just. What I wanted was someone to tell me where everything I wanted is situated, and to show me if necessary. I wanted definite directions and assistance, not just a half hearted “ They’re in isle 28”. Especially when isle 28 is 100 metres long, and all I was looking for was a little packet of picture hooks.
Spirituality is a bit like that these days. I mean, it’s a bit of a supermarket out there. Have you seen those new age fairs, the Psychic fairs about? (Incidentally, why do they need to advertise a Psychic fair? I mean, Psychics should know its on anyway, if they were any good. But I digress.) These places are supermarkets for spirituality. They have all these different spiritualities on offer, people who, usually for a large fee, will help you find yourself, or tell you that you are actually an angel’s soul trapped in a cycle of reincarnation on earth whilst you await a spaceship home, or some other weirdo things like that. Enlightenment through chanting the sacred word Ni! All that stuff about creating your own reality, or working out who you were in a previous life, which is usually Cleopatra or King Arthur. I mean, its just like an Oprah Winfrey show, but much, much bigger and more confusing. And it is all rather confusing, I think.
What I like about Johns Gospel is that he doesn’t mess about. There’s no messianic secret like Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus is telling his disciples not to say anything about His true nature, confusing it all. No, in John’s Gospel, Jesus comes right out and says the truth about who he is and why he’s here. It’s in John’s Gospel that we find the I am statements – I am the way, and the truth, and the life, from chapter 14 for example. There’s no mincing words. Jesus himself is saying this is the truth. He is saying to people “this is what you are looking for”. He tells the woman at the well that He is the living water. This is not giving some airy fairy esoteric answer like “seek the truth within” or “join my ashram and you will find yourself”. This Jesus has no qualms about telling people that the truth they seek is the truth that is before them. He will not hesitate to ask them to accept the truth, accept Him and find eternal life with God.” He is not backward in coming forward about His true nature. This is about those about Him knowing Him for who He really is, his true nature, just like on the mountain at the transfiguration. Except this is not to be kept a secret. This is for everyone to hear.
Its one of the big issues with the Christian churches these days, and especially the traditional Anglican Church, that people don’t seem to know what we Christians are all about. Once upon a time, even if a person didn’t regularly go to church, they at least had a working knowledge of what it was all about. Times have changed. People out there don’t by and large know what Christianity is all about. And I think we have lost the art of telling them. Or perhaps we didn’t really have it in the first place.
Mission is something that many of us equate with far off places, culturally if not geographically, like Africa or New Guinea. It’s not something we tend to think of in regard to our surrounding society. But I have to say, that in terms of the Christian faith, and our particular branch of it, the society around us, in which we live, is becoming more and more a far off place. It’s not a society in which spirituality is dead – on the contrary, it seems like everyone wants to be spiritual. That’s exactly why the new age fairs are so popular, and why there is this supermarket mentality of shopping for the right god. Its just they seem to pass the Christian faith by. We as Christians must learn to be able to respond to these desires of society for spirituality and be able to tell others about the truth we know about. But to do that, we first need to know what that truth is ourselves. And its here in John’s gospel that it laid out clearly. Verse 16 from the Gospel reading this morning: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. The reference to this verse – John 3.16 is almost a cliché. Car stickers have the reference. I’ve seen it on the front of buses driven by Jesus hippies living a nomadic life, travelling around. I’ve seen stickers with the whole verse printed on them. There is even a wrestler – Stone Cold Steve Austin, who has borrowed the 3.16 for his own trademark. The reason it’s a bit cliché and possibly overused is because it is heart of the Gospel, it’s the central fact of the Gospel. Everything that Jesus is and was is based on this fact. It’s the mission statement. It’s the prime reason for Jesus coming to be here – to offer us the hope of eternal life. And it shows the motivation for Jesus mission – God’s love. It’s not God wanting to be worshipped by more people. It is God’s love that drives God’s desire to offer us hope in Jesus. Love alone. Total, selfless love.
We are a parish that has seen better days. We are a parish that wants to see more better days. We’re not going to roll over and die. We’re not going to shut up shop, nor join up with another parish – not yet anyway. And while I have the energy, I and many others here will be working to build up our community in faith and numbers. I wont beat around the bush here – if we are to survive and thrive, then we do need to bring more people into our community of faith. Financially we will be unable to continue if we don’t, especially if having a full time Priest is what the parish desires. But we mustn’t let financial and viability issues drive us. Just as God is motivated by God’s love to reach out to us, we must be motivated by God’s love to reach out to others. It must be evangelical zeal inspired by God’s love that drives us to mission to our own society. If we seek to reach younger people because the church will close without them, then we will fail. If it is a fear of the parish dying that is driving us, then we might as well chuck it in. We must be clear on this – that all the work we do to tell others about the Gospel is for the furtherance of the Kingdom, not for the survival of the parish as such, although I think in the end these two will be intrinsically linked, and if we do it well, the health of our parish community will benefit. But the parish’s longevity must never be subordinate to the Gospel and the kingdom.
At the same time then, getting back to the overwhelming and at times confusing market place of spirituality we have, this Bunning’s version of God, we need to be clear about the Good News we are telling. The Good News as encapsulated within John 3.16, that God sent Jesus to the world not to fill churches with people but to offer us eternal life, and more than that, eternal life with God. We need to be clear so that when people do ask us for directions, instead of a vague gesturing in the approximate direction and instructions that aren’t relevant or understandable, that we can say clearly what the truth is and where to find it. We must be able to give account for the hope that is in us and God’s love that inspires that hope.
The Lord be with you.
Genesis 12.1-4a, Ps121, Romans 4.1-5, 13-17, John 3.1-17.
There is nothing more confusing than a self-service shop where nothing is easy to find.
I went to Bunning’s yesterday, to get a couple of things. Have you been there? It’s massive. It has everything, even a café. But it’s too massive. It’s just bewildering. I hated it.
There is just too much on display there, and all stacked up to the rafters, and when you look at it, you mind spins. It was not a pleasant experience. I got out of there with my sanity, but only just. What I wanted was someone to tell me where everything I wanted is situated, and to show me if necessary. I wanted definite directions and assistance, not just a half hearted “ They’re in isle 28”. Especially when isle 28 is 100 metres long, and all I was looking for was a little packet of picture hooks.
Spirituality is a bit like that these days. I mean, it’s a bit of a supermarket out there. Have you seen those new age fairs, the Psychic fairs about? (Incidentally, why do they need to advertise a Psychic fair? I mean, Psychics should know its on anyway, if they were any good. But I digress.) These places are supermarkets for spirituality. They have all these different spiritualities on offer, people who, usually for a large fee, will help you find yourself, or tell you that you are actually an angel’s soul trapped in a cycle of reincarnation on earth whilst you await a spaceship home, or some other weirdo things like that. Enlightenment through chanting the sacred word Ni! All that stuff about creating your own reality, or working out who you were in a previous life, which is usually Cleopatra or King Arthur. I mean, its just like an Oprah Winfrey show, but much, much bigger and more confusing. And it is all rather confusing, I think.
What I like about Johns Gospel is that he doesn’t mess about. There’s no messianic secret like Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus is telling his disciples not to say anything about His true nature, confusing it all. No, in John’s Gospel, Jesus comes right out and says the truth about who he is and why he’s here. It’s in John’s Gospel that we find the I am statements – I am the way, and the truth, and the life, from chapter 14 for example. There’s no mincing words. Jesus himself is saying this is the truth. He is saying to people “this is what you are looking for”. He tells the woman at the well that He is the living water. This is not giving some airy fairy esoteric answer like “seek the truth within” or “join my ashram and you will find yourself”. This Jesus has no qualms about telling people that the truth they seek is the truth that is before them. He will not hesitate to ask them to accept the truth, accept Him and find eternal life with God.” He is not backward in coming forward about His true nature. This is about those about Him knowing Him for who He really is, his true nature, just like on the mountain at the transfiguration. Except this is not to be kept a secret. This is for everyone to hear.
Its one of the big issues with the Christian churches these days, and especially the traditional Anglican Church, that people don’t seem to know what we Christians are all about. Once upon a time, even if a person didn’t regularly go to church, they at least had a working knowledge of what it was all about. Times have changed. People out there don’t by and large know what Christianity is all about. And I think we have lost the art of telling them. Or perhaps we didn’t really have it in the first place.
Mission is something that many of us equate with far off places, culturally if not geographically, like Africa or New Guinea. It’s not something we tend to think of in regard to our surrounding society. But I have to say, that in terms of the Christian faith, and our particular branch of it, the society around us, in which we live, is becoming more and more a far off place. It’s not a society in which spirituality is dead – on the contrary, it seems like everyone wants to be spiritual. That’s exactly why the new age fairs are so popular, and why there is this supermarket mentality of shopping for the right god. Its just they seem to pass the Christian faith by. We as Christians must learn to be able to respond to these desires of society for spirituality and be able to tell others about the truth we know about. But to do that, we first need to know what that truth is ourselves. And its here in John’s gospel that it laid out clearly. Verse 16 from the Gospel reading this morning: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. The reference to this verse – John 3.16 is almost a cliché. Car stickers have the reference. I’ve seen it on the front of buses driven by Jesus hippies living a nomadic life, travelling around. I’ve seen stickers with the whole verse printed on them. There is even a wrestler – Stone Cold Steve Austin, who has borrowed the 3.16 for his own trademark. The reason it’s a bit cliché and possibly overused is because it is heart of the Gospel, it’s the central fact of the Gospel. Everything that Jesus is and was is based on this fact. It’s the mission statement. It’s the prime reason for Jesus coming to be here – to offer us the hope of eternal life. And it shows the motivation for Jesus mission – God’s love. It’s not God wanting to be worshipped by more people. It is God’s love that drives God’s desire to offer us hope in Jesus. Love alone. Total, selfless love.
We are a parish that has seen better days. We are a parish that wants to see more better days. We’re not going to roll over and die. We’re not going to shut up shop, nor join up with another parish – not yet anyway. And while I have the energy, I and many others here will be working to build up our community in faith and numbers. I wont beat around the bush here – if we are to survive and thrive, then we do need to bring more people into our community of faith. Financially we will be unable to continue if we don’t, especially if having a full time Priest is what the parish desires. But we mustn’t let financial and viability issues drive us. Just as God is motivated by God’s love to reach out to us, we must be motivated by God’s love to reach out to others. It must be evangelical zeal inspired by God’s love that drives us to mission to our own society. If we seek to reach younger people because the church will close without them, then we will fail. If it is a fear of the parish dying that is driving us, then we might as well chuck it in. We must be clear on this – that all the work we do to tell others about the Gospel is for the furtherance of the Kingdom, not for the survival of the parish as such, although I think in the end these two will be intrinsically linked, and if we do it well, the health of our parish community will benefit. But the parish’s longevity must never be subordinate to the Gospel and the kingdom.
At the same time then, getting back to the overwhelming and at times confusing market place of spirituality we have, this Bunning’s version of God, we need to be clear about the Good News we are telling. The Good News as encapsulated within John 3.16, that God sent Jesus to the world not to fill churches with people but to offer us eternal life, and more than that, eternal life with God. We need to be clear so that when people do ask us for directions, instead of a vague gesturing in the approximate direction and instructions that aren’t relevant or understandable, that we can say clearly what the truth is and where to find it. We must be able to give account for the hope that is in us and God’s love that inspires that hope.
The Lord be with you.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Epiphany 4 2005
Are we all lunatics? Are we all mad?
I mean, we just don’t make sense.
We gather here on Sunday mornings, early, like some of us at 8am even, and sing songs, ring bells, read the Bible, do some praying. I mean, its all quite weird really. It’s not what normal people do these days. It’s very counter-cultural.
So why do we do it? We do have a reason, don’t we? We come to church and we sing songs and ring bells and pray and partake of the sacrament from the Lords table because we believe in God, we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and we believe in the Holy Spirit. We affirm that every time we say the Nicene creed. We have faith in our Trinitarian God.
Faith? Belief? Where do these concepts fit into a world of provable facts, of empirical research methods and viable outcomes? The only faith we hear about in the outside world usually is faith in ones self, or in one’s team mates. Maybe faith in humanity is acceptable. But faith in God? Well, really it doesn’t fit. And that’s where we look to many people in the outside world like lunatics.
Look at UFO cults. There would not be many of us who would hesitate to label them lunatics, whackos. These people believe that beings from other worlds, other galaxies, even other universes, are in contact with them and offer them salvation. They believe that they will one day ascend in spaceships to a higher level of existence. Some believe these UFO beings are actually angels. Now this is all a bit bizarre. I mean, I’ve mentioned before the Heavens Gate mob who committed mass suicide wearing matching Nike tracksuits and runners, so that they would ascend to a UFO that was hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet. It was only after death, apparently, that they could go to the higher level of existence, you see. Lunatics. Absolute lunatics, weren’t they?
But then what about us. We have a saviour who is God incarnate, yet at the same time, God’s son. He lives outside of this universe, yet is also present within it. He promises us salvation. He promises us that even though we die, yet will we live. He promises us a continued life on a higher plane of existence, in the heavenly kingdom. Now try to look at this from the point of view of a sceptical outsider, a person who is used to thinking in a world of proven facts. Do we look sane to that person? As I said earlier, we can appear mad to such a person. I mean, what we say we believe can’t actually be proven, can it?
Well, no, it can’t. If we could prove that God exists through scientific methods, we wouldn’t look silly. If we could invent a time machine that could take a documentary film crew and cameras back to Jesus time, then we could prove it all absolutely. We could present to the world evidence that would convert the world. It would be so easy. But we can’t get that proof. We have to rely on something else to tell us God is real. Something that is outside of the bounds of logical and scientific wisdom. We have to rely on Faith.
Now I don’t want to get into a long dissertation on the nature of faith and where to get it, except to say that it is not logical, and that it usually, for me at least, comes from a feeling rather than an intellectual process. Theology is an attempt to explain feelings in intellectual language, which at times fails the subject, because faith is often indescribable. Faith just is. Mere language cannot explain faith. It grows and changes. A living faith is organic and changeable, unable to be put in a category. Certainly unable to be measured and proved.
We feel our faith. And we feel things that help our faith grow, through experience on all levels. Things that happen to us, good or bad, and our reactions to them, and the reactions of others to these events inform and develop our faith. The response of Christians to disasters will help those who are coming to faith to be strengthened in their faith, or to lose it, depending on the reaction. A judgemental, fundamentalist response will bring condemnation from the general population. A compassionate response will help others to know the love that is inspired by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I guess where I’m going with all this is to say that we can’t prove, with the wisdom of this world, that God exists. We can’t prove absolutely through empirical scientific research that Jesus existed and that he died on a cross and rose again and ascended to heaven. I mean, the whole cross thing doesn’t make sense to this world, as Paul rightly points out. We can’t take pictures of the Holy Spirit. But gee, we can show the world by the way we live that we are different and loving and that God inspires our faith, and that our faith is what inspires us.
That’s the way we prove, or at least demonstrate, that God is real. The very fact that for 2000 years, even when Christianity has been the state religion, even when horrible things have been done in the name of the church, people have been moved by their faith in God to be counter cultural, to be compassionate and caring, to be prayerful and peaceful, is the greatest proof there ever can be. The fact that people are still inspired to stand up for others. The fact that the beatitudes still ring true after all this time, that they still represent the greatest message that has ever been given to humanity, a message that takes us out of our own mortal existence and gives us hope in something better. Just the fact that after 2000 years, so many people continue to believe, and help others to believe. I mean, in some parts of the world Christianity is actually growing at a phenomenal rate. That is the undeniable legacy of Jesus, and proof of His continuing interaction and involvement with us and with this world.
I’ll leave the goodbye speech for the celebration later. All I want to say now is thank you welcoming me into your worshipping community, and helping my faith and my vocation to grow, and for giving me the space to be a lunatic for Jesus, wallowing in the foolish wisdom of the Cross. I encourage you all to do the same. Because there’s always room for more crazies for Christ.
Are we all lunatics? Are we all mad?
I mean, we just don’t make sense.
We gather here on Sunday mornings, early, like some of us at 8am even, and sing songs, ring bells, read the Bible, do some praying. I mean, its all quite weird really. It’s not what normal people do these days. It’s very counter-cultural.
So why do we do it? We do have a reason, don’t we? We come to church and we sing songs and ring bells and pray and partake of the sacrament from the Lords table because we believe in God, we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and we believe in the Holy Spirit. We affirm that every time we say the Nicene creed. We have faith in our Trinitarian God.
Faith? Belief? Where do these concepts fit into a world of provable facts, of empirical research methods and viable outcomes? The only faith we hear about in the outside world usually is faith in ones self, or in one’s team mates. Maybe faith in humanity is acceptable. But faith in God? Well, really it doesn’t fit. And that’s where we look to many people in the outside world like lunatics.
Look at UFO cults. There would not be many of us who would hesitate to label them lunatics, whackos. These people believe that beings from other worlds, other galaxies, even other universes, are in contact with them and offer them salvation. They believe that they will one day ascend in spaceships to a higher level of existence. Some believe these UFO beings are actually angels. Now this is all a bit bizarre. I mean, I’ve mentioned before the Heavens Gate mob who committed mass suicide wearing matching Nike tracksuits and runners, so that they would ascend to a UFO that was hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet. It was only after death, apparently, that they could go to the higher level of existence, you see. Lunatics. Absolute lunatics, weren’t they?
But then what about us. We have a saviour who is God incarnate, yet at the same time, God’s son. He lives outside of this universe, yet is also present within it. He promises us salvation. He promises us that even though we die, yet will we live. He promises us a continued life on a higher plane of existence, in the heavenly kingdom. Now try to look at this from the point of view of a sceptical outsider, a person who is used to thinking in a world of proven facts. Do we look sane to that person? As I said earlier, we can appear mad to such a person. I mean, what we say we believe can’t actually be proven, can it?
Well, no, it can’t. If we could prove that God exists through scientific methods, we wouldn’t look silly. If we could invent a time machine that could take a documentary film crew and cameras back to Jesus time, then we could prove it all absolutely. We could present to the world evidence that would convert the world. It would be so easy. But we can’t get that proof. We have to rely on something else to tell us God is real. Something that is outside of the bounds of logical and scientific wisdom. We have to rely on Faith.
Now I don’t want to get into a long dissertation on the nature of faith and where to get it, except to say that it is not logical, and that it usually, for me at least, comes from a feeling rather than an intellectual process. Theology is an attempt to explain feelings in intellectual language, which at times fails the subject, because faith is often indescribable. Faith just is. Mere language cannot explain faith. It grows and changes. A living faith is organic and changeable, unable to be put in a category. Certainly unable to be measured and proved.
We feel our faith. And we feel things that help our faith grow, through experience on all levels. Things that happen to us, good or bad, and our reactions to them, and the reactions of others to these events inform and develop our faith. The response of Christians to disasters will help those who are coming to faith to be strengthened in their faith, or to lose it, depending on the reaction. A judgemental, fundamentalist response will bring condemnation from the general population. A compassionate response will help others to know the love that is inspired by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I guess where I’m going with all this is to say that we can’t prove, with the wisdom of this world, that God exists. We can’t prove absolutely through empirical scientific research that Jesus existed and that he died on a cross and rose again and ascended to heaven. I mean, the whole cross thing doesn’t make sense to this world, as Paul rightly points out. We can’t take pictures of the Holy Spirit. But gee, we can show the world by the way we live that we are different and loving and that God inspires our faith, and that our faith is what inspires us.
That’s the way we prove, or at least demonstrate, that God is real. The very fact that for 2000 years, even when Christianity has been the state religion, even when horrible things have been done in the name of the church, people have been moved by their faith in God to be counter cultural, to be compassionate and caring, to be prayerful and peaceful, is the greatest proof there ever can be. The fact that people are still inspired to stand up for others. The fact that the beatitudes still ring true after all this time, that they still represent the greatest message that has ever been given to humanity, a message that takes us out of our own mortal existence and gives us hope in something better. Just the fact that after 2000 years, so many people continue to believe, and help others to believe. I mean, in some parts of the world Christianity is actually growing at a phenomenal rate. That is the undeniable legacy of Jesus, and proof of His continuing interaction and involvement with us and with this world.
I’ll leave the goodbye speech for the celebration later. All I want to say now is thank you welcoming me into your worshipping community, and helping my faith and my vocation to grow, and for giving me the space to be a lunatic for Jesus, wallowing in the foolish wisdom of the Cross. I encourage you all to do the same. Because there’s always room for more crazies for Christ.
The Baptism of Our Lord, January 9th, 2005.
Yahweh and Children Pty Ltd.
Any parent will know that feeling pride when their child does something the same as them. I’m sure that some of you will know what I mean.
It might be mannerism, or a family tradition. It could be when they take up the same sport, or the same hobby. It could be taking on the family business, taking over the family farm. I feel immensely proud when Jacob rides on the back of the motorcycle. It is very pleasing to share my life, my interests with him.
It works the other way as well. As a son, I feel good when I realise I do something that my father would have approved of, or something that he enjoyed himself. There is a feeling of pride, of something continued, something shared, something that outlives both of us, especially since he died. It is an ongoing connection with him, it maintains something that I hope we had. Hopefully the things that I do like him are good things, positive things.
Now the need to please our parents shouldn’t rule our lives. But it is how we are, and sometimes there is no escaping it. And if it is positive and healthy, then no point escaping it. And the fact is, it feels good to continue this family stuff, doesn’t it. It is an ongoing connection to something that is bigger than ourselves. We feel good because the feelings of pride help to validate who and what we are. It is something worthwhile.
I suspect for Jesus then, it was no different.
I imagine he worked as Joseph’s apprentice, learning carpentry, carrying on in the family business. Then, when the time was right, he picked up his real trade, and carried on that family business – the business of proclamation, salvation and healing. The business we are all a part of. As God’s son, then, it is only natural that God would be pleased with Him.
Most of us know that in baptism we don’t just become member of God’s church, receiving a licence, or an obligation, to get up early on Sunday mornings to sing hymns and feel holy. In Baptism we are actually joined to Jesus as part of His family, and through this we are joined to God. God is our Parent, our Father and Mother. We are God’s offspring, God’s children. We are made members of God’s family. There are obligations in this, and I guess one of them is that we should all live in harmony. A big ask. Because unfortunately all of us in God’s family can’t always agree on matters of faith and biblical interpretation. But there has never been a time where uniform agreement has been a characteristic of God’s family.
Many of us will have heard what the Anglican Dean of Sydney is reported to have said, that the Tsunami tragedy is a reminder for God that judgement is not far off. Now whilst it is being argued about whether or not he was misquoted or taken out of context, and lets face it, it wouldn’t be the first time he has said something controversially conservative and literalist, the fact is that many ultra-conservative Christians do believe in this punishing God, bringing forth disaster on a sinful world, punishing people who are bad. I mean, the Old Testament, in many ways, supports this. You only need to look at the story of Noah’s ark, don’t you. A sinful world drowned, the one good family saved. This belief is biblical. Also Biblical though, is the fact that Jesus did not believe in this punishment thing. Just look at John chapter 9, where Jesus is asked which of a blind man’s parents sinned for him to be born blind. He says neither of them. The man born blind was a way for God to show God’s works to the world, God’s glory, and the power and healing that God can bring. Bad things happen to good people and bad people, just like good things happen to bad people and good people. If those who suffer are all sinners, if it is divine retribution for wrongs done against God, where does the suffering that Jesus experienced fit in? If Jesus was the only one ever born without sin, as He was, then surely under this flawed theology, He would never have suffered.
There will always be sibling rivalry in the church. We have to face that fact. And there will be times when one point of view, one particular theology, one method of biblical interpretation is favoured over others. But we do need to at least try to share the vision of what it is to be part of the family business. And the focus at the moment is, I think, how does the family business, the church of God, respond to massive natural disasters, and where do we find God in amongst it all.
It’s quite natural to doubt God when something like this happens. The logical thought process is that if God is huge and powerful and can do like, anything, then why do these things happen? We all know that this is a flawed human thought pattern that leads us nowhere, except perhaps agnosticism or atheism. We actually need an image of God that is bigger than this Father Christmas thing of good presents for good people, bad presents for bad people, or the superman model of God stepping in to save us all the time. We need an image of God that is much more intimate, much more adult, much more caring. Too caring, in fact to, to want to keep us in cotton wool.
I guess the fact that I strive to know is that even though suffering happens, God is amongst us. Jesus, in his suffering, did more for humanity than the removal of suffering could ever do. For in the face of suffering, human faith triumphs. It’s a pity it takes such an event to spur us into action, but look at the way the world has mobilised to help those affected by the Tsunami. Its not just us Aussies, as some current affair programs would have us believe. It is worldwide. There is an underlying sense of compassion in many people, compassion that has at its root some sort of faith in the future of humanity and the God who leads it. Some would not acknowledge this truth, but it is a truth. God works even through non-believers at times.
God can be found not in the destruction of the Tsunami, not in some huge divine act of retribution and punishment, but in the response of the many millions of people who are mobilising to help those affected. It is the inspiration of the compassion, exemplified by Jesus, and within us in the Holy Spirit, that God can be found. It is the altruism, the care and concern, the empathy. God is in the movement of people to help the common good, and it crosses all boundaries.
Jesus showed us that Gods love knows no bounds. God doesn’t do disasters, or illnesses, or those other bad things that happen to people. That’s just part of the imperfect nature of creation. But God is there, in Jesus, with us in the midst of the bad stuff as well as the good stuff. God loves us, God sent Jesus to live as us, and sent the Spirit to inspire us, to help us keep going.
Caring for others is a tradition in this family of God. The family business is the business of love. It is helping others, telling others about God in thought and word and deed. It is expanding the company. It feels good to connect with that tradition. It feels good to be part of the family, especially this one where all of us together make a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. It is a family that we are baptised, born into spiritually. Even Jesus was baptised into it. And that’s how close we are, that’s how much Jesus empathised with us. He was baptised too, the perfect being treated as imperfect.
When we are baptised, we are connecting with the fact that even Jesus allowed himself to be baptised. We are connected with that greatest of family traditions, of welcoming all, even sinners and the unclean and the sick and outsiders to the family of God. Now personally, I think that is pretty cool.
The Lord be with you,
And also with you.
Yahweh and Children Pty Ltd.
Any parent will know that feeling pride when their child does something the same as them. I’m sure that some of you will know what I mean.
It might be mannerism, or a family tradition. It could be when they take up the same sport, or the same hobby. It could be taking on the family business, taking over the family farm. I feel immensely proud when Jacob rides on the back of the motorcycle. It is very pleasing to share my life, my interests with him.
It works the other way as well. As a son, I feel good when I realise I do something that my father would have approved of, or something that he enjoyed himself. There is a feeling of pride, of something continued, something shared, something that outlives both of us, especially since he died. It is an ongoing connection with him, it maintains something that I hope we had. Hopefully the things that I do like him are good things, positive things.
Now the need to please our parents shouldn’t rule our lives. But it is how we are, and sometimes there is no escaping it. And if it is positive and healthy, then no point escaping it. And the fact is, it feels good to continue this family stuff, doesn’t it. It is an ongoing connection to something that is bigger than ourselves. We feel good because the feelings of pride help to validate who and what we are. It is something worthwhile.
I suspect for Jesus then, it was no different.
I imagine he worked as Joseph’s apprentice, learning carpentry, carrying on in the family business. Then, when the time was right, he picked up his real trade, and carried on that family business – the business of proclamation, salvation and healing. The business we are all a part of. As God’s son, then, it is only natural that God would be pleased with Him.
Most of us know that in baptism we don’t just become member of God’s church, receiving a licence, or an obligation, to get up early on Sunday mornings to sing hymns and feel holy. In Baptism we are actually joined to Jesus as part of His family, and through this we are joined to God. God is our Parent, our Father and Mother. We are God’s offspring, God’s children. We are made members of God’s family. There are obligations in this, and I guess one of them is that we should all live in harmony. A big ask. Because unfortunately all of us in God’s family can’t always agree on matters of faith and biblical interpretation. But there has never been a time where uniform agreement has been a characteristic of God’s family.
Many of us will have heard what the Anglican Dean of Sydney is reported to have said, that the Tsunami tragedy is a reminder for God that judgement is not far off. Now whilst it is being argued about whether or not he was misquoted or taken out of context, and lets face it, it wouldn’t be the first time he has said something controversially conservative and literalist, the fact is that many ultra-conservative Christians do believe in this punishing God, bringing forth disaster on a sinful world, punishing people who are bad. I mean, the Old Testament, in many ways, supports this. You only need to look at the story of Noah’s ark, don’t you. A sinful world drowned, the one good family saved. This belief is biblical. Also Biblical though, is the fact that Jesus did not believe in this punishment thing. Just look at John chapter 9, where Jesus is asked which of a blind man’s parents sinned for him to be born blind. He says neither of them. The man born blind was a way for God to show God’s works to the world, God’s glory, and the power and healing that God can bring. Bad things happen to good people and bad people, just like good things happen to bad people and good people. If those who suffer are all sinners, if it is divine retribution for wrongs done against God, where does the suffering that Jesus experienced fit in? If Jesus was the only one ever born without sin, as He was, then surely under this flawed theology, He would never have suffered.
There will always be sibling rivalry in the church. We have to face that fact. And there will be times when one point of view, one particular theology, one method of biblical interpretation is favoured over others. But we do need to at least try to share the vision of what it is to be part of the family business. And the focus at the moment is, I think, how does the family business, the church of God, respond to massive natural disasters, and where do we find God in amongst it all.
It’s quite natural to doubt God when something like this happens. The logical thought process is that if God is huge and powerful and can do like, anything, then why do these things happen? We all know that this is a flawed human thought pattern that leads us nowhere, except perhaps agnosticism or atheism. We actually need an image of God that is bigger than this Father Christmas thing of good presents for good people, bad presents for bad people, or the superman model of God stepping in to save us all the time. We need an image of God that is much more intimate, much more adult, much more caring. Too caring, in fact to, to want to keep us in cotton wool.
I guess the fact that I strive to know is that even though suffering happens, God is amongst us. Jesus, in his suffering, did more for humanity than the removal of suffering could ever do. For in the face of suffering, human faith triumphs. It’s a pity it takes such an event to spur us into action, but look at the way the world has mobilised to help those affected by the Tsunami. Its not just us Aussies, as some current affair programs would have us believe. It is worldwide. There is an underlying sense of compassion in many people, compassion that has at its root some sort of faith in the future of humanity and the God who leads it. Some would not acknowledge this truth, but it is a truth. God works even through non-believers at times.
God can be found not in the destruction of the Tsunami, not in some huge divine act of retribution and punishment, but in the response of the many millions of people who are mobilising to help those affected. It is the inspiration of the compassion, exemplified by Jesus, and within us in the Holy Spirit, that God can be found. It is the altruism, the care and concern, the empathy. God is in the movement of people to help the common good, and it crosses all boundaries.
Jesus showed us that Gods love knows no bounds. God doesn’t do disasters, or illnesses, or those other bad things that happen to people. That’s just part of the imperfect nature of creation. But God is there, in Jesus, with us in the midst of the bad stuff as well as the good stuff. God loves us, God sent Jesus to live as us, and sent the Spirit to inspire us, to help us keep going.
Caring for others is a tradition in this family of God. The family business is the business of love. It is helping others, telling others about God in thought and word and deed. It is expanding the company. It feels good to connect with that tradition. It feels good to be part of the family, especially this one where all of us together make a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. It is a family that we are baptised, born into spiritually. Even Jesus was baptised into it. And that’s how close we are, that’s how much Jesus empathised with us. He was baptised too, the perfect being treated as imperfect.
When we are baptised, we are connecting with the fact that even Jesus allowed himself to be baptised. We are connected with that greatest of family traditions, of welcoming all, even sinners and the unclean and the sick and outsiders to the family of God. Now personally, I think that is pretty cool.
The Lord be with you,
And also with you.
