Exaltation of the Holy Cross

"Lift high the Cross,

the love of Christ proclaim,

'til all the world adores

his sacred name".

Today is the day in the Church's year when we celebrate the Cross as a sign of Christ's triumph. It is also a sign of God's love for us. It's appropriate, then, that today we invited visitors to our churches for Back to Church Sunday.

We pray for everyone who came to one of our churches today, and pray for our ongoing Season of Invitation. Our next big event will be Harvest, at the beginning of October. Invite your families and friends!

12th Sunday After Trinity

In today's gospel reading, Jesus tells his apostles "whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed on heaven". The ministry of loosing, of setting free, is an essential part of the Church's life. We all need setting free from things that stop us flourishing as the people God created us to be.

This ministry of setting free happens in all sorts of ways, but in particular when the bishops and priests of the Church, successors to those first apostles, celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, better known as confession. Today's gospel is one of the scriptural texts on which our use of confession is founded.

Confession is a great gift from God to his people. Here's the basic idea - through our baptism, God wins the victory over sin in our lives and claims us for himself. A lot of the time, however, we fail to live up to this wonderful new beginning. We fail to love God and each other. This doesn't undo our baptism - the effect of that is permanent, but it does put barriers between us and God, and between us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. God loves us, and longs to dismantle those barriers. Confession is the way this happens through the sacramental life of the Church.

God can, of course, forgive us without confession. If we are genuinely sorry, and pray for forgiveness, we are forgiven there and then. But if we're honest, we are often not truly sorry. We often deceive ourselves about the wrong we have done. Confession helps with this. The process of taking a look at ourselves, deciding what to confess, going to confession, and hearing the words of absolution (forgiveness) from the priest, assuring us that God has forgiven us, is incredibly helpful. Over and above that helpfulness, God's grace is given to us through this sacrament, drawing us back to him.

A good rule is to go to confession when we are aware that we've done something seriously wrong, and two or three times a year in addition to that - perhaps before major festivals like Christmas and Easter. You can go to confession by contacting a priest (it doesn't need to be a priest from our parishes). Priests are used to hearing confessions from people who are not used to it, and will guide you through the process if you are making your first confession, or if you've forgotten what to do! Things said in confession are absolutely confidential under all circumstances.

Confirmation coming up!

Bishop Peter will be visiting our parishes for confirmation on Tuesday 18th November at 7:45pm. Please put this date in our diary now. This will be at St Matthias.

Confirmation is a sacrament - one of the great signs of God's love within the Church. By it we are given the strength of the Holy Spirit to live as Christians in the world. In our parishes at the moment people are confirmed before receiving Holy Communion.

If you are interested in confirmation, please talk to one of the clergy. We will be starting preparation classes soon. Confirmation is offered to adults and to children (about Year 5 onwards). Candidates who haven't been baptised will receive baptism just before they are confirmed.

Those who have already been baptised and confirmed, please come along, support our candidates, and renew your own commitment to the Christian life and mission.

Final Tuesday in August

Following the coldest Bank holiday since records begun 16 of us met up at Hendon central station to explore the natural history museum. 

It would appear we are not alone in trying to get in to the museum. The queue is one hour long we are told. Thankfully it's not raining too much!! Then Angie uses her charm, as a primary teacher she is clued up ,and we are ushered from the back of the queue of over one hundred to the front - the last are truly the first!!  "Ask and you will receive"

After our packed lunch in the picnic area we went to find the dinosaurs. Once again the queue snaked round the huge brontosaurus in the main hall but we had our ticket ready and went straight on and back in time 230 million years

For many of us the world of the Jurassic past is firmly linked with the film of the same name and it was poignant to see the face of Sir Richard Attenborough RIP. 

We went into the red zone to experience volcanos and earthquakes. 

Having a rest before entering the red Zone! 

Three of us shared our experience of earthquakes Pat as a child growing up in Antiga, myself at Mirfield theological college in Yorkshire and Judy living on the west hendon estate with developments rocking her sofa in the afternoon ! We experienced the earthquake in japan while in a supermarket. And thought of those in Napa valley who had their world and lives rocked by natures force. 

Our second day trip together

21 of us have gathered at Hendon to catch a train to explore our cathedral, Tate modern and the south bank. 

We said a prayer for those of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith especially in Iraq by the picture of christ the light of the world. 

Here is another installation on the theme of martyrs earth, wind, fire, water

After lunch were we had a delegation from the Anglican communion office join us we climbed the 536 stairs of the cathedral for views of London. I decided to get some training in for when my grandson is born later this year

We crossed the millennium bridge to get to londons beech and a dead sea snake was discovered along with shells and other treasures the river has thrown up for us. 

Trinity 9 - Crumbs and Dogs

The Gospel story of a conversation between a Gentile woman and Jesus for today is very challenging. We see a very human side to Jesus. Scholars argue over Jesus’ intention in his words to the woman. Most of us want to hold onto our image of Jesus, gentle, meek and mild. In a way, it doesn’t matter if on the one hand Jesus was consciously testing the woman to draw out faith from her desperation or whether he just as offensive and prejudiced as those of his culture, faith and time.

The woman’s desperation gave her both courage and wit. ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Matthew 15.27

What is perhaps significant is the ability of the woman to take the metaphors that Jesus uses and turn them around, metaphors that could be seen as diminutive, dismissive and offensive.

Crumbs no longer speak of what is lacking in life, what is mean in our human heart what is lacking in the decisions we take to show compassion and care. These crumbs are now a sign of great blessings, abundance and generosity as we see plainly in the feeding of the 5000 where the disciples are left with crumbs, 12 baskets full to be precise!

And dogs, among the unclean animals in the Jewish world of Jesus’ time become the metaphor for a small child who is made well, who is blessed by Jesus with health and wholeness where before there was only despair and impending death.

It is in the recording of this event that Matthew allows the woman of no importance to make the connections rather than Jesus himself, to shape and formulate an articulate word in the presence of the God’s eternal Word – Jesus Christ.

Indeed the whole passage is a juxtaposition of opposites . Jesus the hero is cast as the villain, his words were offensive albeit accepted then as they are today by so many when it come to identifying the other and the one who should be the villain of the piece, this troublesome woman who should have known better that trouble the great master, is praised for her faith.

All is not as it should be and in this we are reminded of that all important lesson in faith that all is not as it seems when we look with the eyes of faith at this world of disorder and death.

This woman’s great faith broke through the human-made barriers of discrimination. She knew that in the eyes of those present, she was seen as no better than a ‘dog, but she does not let this their view of her, their judgment, rob her of her humanity.

As we see in so many encounters between Jesus and those around him it is those who the world judge as of little importance or worse that become the center of attention, the attention of God through his son Jesus Christ.

In this one act Jesus revealed the truth of the kingdom that was to come. A kingdom open to all, we can come as we are and be welcomed and loved as we are and in that welcome and love be transformed in to all that God wants us to be!

This kind of realization did no just challenge the disciples who surround, protect and even attempt to control the outpouring of Gods love that is this Jesus of Nazareth: it should be a challenge to us also.

What do we see?

How do we judge others? How are we judged by others? Do we judge purely on appearance or do we try to see beyond and reach out to the ‘real’ person? Of course Jesus told us ‘not to judge’ but how easy is that?

There is more though, this encounter is so dense, so filled with the wonderful possibilities that are open to us if we are prepared to approach him and demand – yes demand his blessings, his attention. For this is what the woman does in recognizing the potency and potential for life that Jesus holds out to the world.

This woman is clear minded and direct, she is single minded as is anyone struggling with matters of life and death.  She is a mother whose child is terribly and possibly eternally damaged, hurt and lost.

This mother is not interested in having a place at the table, she is not seeking to challenge the injustice of her world, she only wants a crumb for she knows, she perceives that this is enough! “Please Mister” she cries out “just give me what I need for my daughter”.  Desperation not despair drive her and propels her through the crowd, through the closed ranks of the chosen disciples and into the direct gaze of Jesus.

But nothing is as it seems in this encounter for in demanding the crumbs of course she does challenge the injustice of her world and ours too. It comes from her understanding of what Jesus holds before her and what he offers us this morning in this Eucharist and what Jesus offers us is  crumbs, a small piece of bread, his very body, for the life of the world, for the healing of the nations, yes for the life of a small child and for yours and my life.

In this encounter something is changed for ever, and it is of course St Paul who understands this long before St Peter and the other disciples that in Christ we are made new, the old distinctions of the world no longer apply.

As re reflect on this encounter between a nameless woman and Jesus the Christ the question remains, Are there changes in us that need to happen so that the Kingdom of God is not limited by our narrow minded prejudices?

The Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption begins this evening. We remember God's glorification of Mary's entire human reality at the moment of death - a sign of the new life that God promises us all through Jesus Christ.

We'll be celebrating tomorrow with a Sung Mass at St Matthias at 7:45pm. Fr Simon Maddison from St Alphage, Burnt Oak will be visiting us to preach. Our organist, Konstantin, is laying on some music. Mass will be followed by a party.

This event has been wonderful in recent years. Please support it, and bring your family and friends!

Above all, let's use the coming day to give thanks to God, who shows us in Mary his plan for each one of us.

Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen