tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39994110704650588532024-03-13T14:51:35.868+00:00St John, West Hendon and St Matthias,ColindaleSunday Mass: 9:30 St John's; 11am St MatthiasFr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-4668276840869134372016-03-12T09:44:00.003+00:002016-03-12T09:44:28.410+00:00Getting Ready for Holy Week<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">At the beginning of Holy Week, we stand with Jesus before the
gates of a city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The eternal city, a city loved and fought over in equal measure
for millennia. A city where God is to be found, and it is with Jesus this week,
if you dare join us as we journey together in this city of our making, that we
too will find God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As we stand before the gates of Jerusalem with our Lord, We know
that once we pass through these gates, once we enter this Holy week we shall be
swept up in events that we cannot control and that will bring us to the very
edge of what we can bear, as we walk with our Lord <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Calvary and the tomb. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Holy tells us that God is able to change everything about
us – our fear, our sin, our guilt, our untruthfulness. But to receive that change
in the actual circumstances of our lives , to received the hope of life in all
its fullness that is THE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter many of
us are content to embrace without first visiting the upper room or walking
through dusty and dangerous streets, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>without
struggling up the hill of crucifixion, we need to make this Holy week ours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We need to see these precious few days as an opportunity to live
our lives through the lives of those first followers of Jesus Christ who went
on to change this world for ever and find in all the twists and turns of their
lives that God is truly with us and never forsakes us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus does not steer us away from the gates and send us back
into the holy silence of the desert or the peace of the countryside. He keeps
us close to him as we stand at the gates, and he tells us that these are also
the gates of heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If you are prepared to be caught up in the drama of these next
few days, if you are choose to come and be part of the beautiful liturgies that
mark this Holy week, If you are prepared to walk with Jesus into the city, to
the cross and the tomb, there is a joy and a mystery at the end of the path,
because it is inexhaustible divine love that walks with us. We stand not just
at the gates of the city of wrong, the great city where the Lord was crucified,
as revelation says, but also at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. For our
journey past these gates take us to a garden and in that garden the place where
the miracle of life is made clear as with the rising of sun the darkness and chaos
of this city is transformed by the light of the risen Son. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #414141; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">At these city gates, we see endless possibilities. We can enter
with Jesus and walk with him to his garden of new life. Or we can enter and
find ourselves caught up in the murderous crowds, and, at the end of it all,
find ourselves with hands both empty and bloodstained. Or we can stay at the
gates, unwilling to commit ourselves because we know that as soon as we enter
there will be trial and suffering; but if we stay there, we shall never reach
the garden. How much do we want to be there, where God walks with us again in
the cool of the day? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-48119513826608777752015-10-18T22:04:00.001+01:002015-10-18T22:04:36.020+01:00James and John ask Jesus a question
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the
exchange between Jesus and his disciples that begins with James and John we
have much to learn and much common ground to be found.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">James and
John approach Jesus with a question, a question that reveals much about what is
on their mind at this time – </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand
and one at your left, in your glory.’ Mark 10.37<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It is refreshing to see that Jesus does not shut down their request. He
does not make conditions before they ask what is on their mind, he simply
allows them to speak, to ask of him what it is that they want. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In this we are reminded that we can always approach Jesus with what is
on our mind, he is there for us, there is no need to make an appointment, just
speak and he will listen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And when they have asked, a question that not just the other 10
disciples find distasteful but one that we shake our heads at and think “how
foolish, how slow to learn” Jesus treats their question seriously. He does no
dismiss their need, their desire however wide of the mark it may be, but instead
he engages with them meeting them where they are and then leading them to a
deeper understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Jesus
remains open to the request from James and John. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“What do you want me to do?”</i> replies Jesus. Maybe we should just
pause there for a moment and think to our selves What would I ask of Jesus if I
was standing before him as James and John were?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What is at
the top of my wish list?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">James and
John ask to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Sit at Jesus’ right and left in his glory”.</i></b> It easy to be
quick in judging them, Yes it is possible to see their response as naive and
their request arising from pride or lust for power. However it may have been
that they simple wanted to near to their friend and Lord, that sitting at
Jesus’ right and left was the fulfilment of their desire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Can the same
be said of us – do we really desire to be at the side of Jesus, not just in his
glory but in his life of service and in his suffering?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When we read
of the anger of the other disciples I wonder what is at the heart of that
anger? Is it that they are angry because James and John seemed to be making a
bid for power or privileged and they were too slow to ask first? or is it that
they see the folly in asking such a question, that the Kingdom the Jesus is
speaking about and building is their midst is a far cry from the earthly
kingdoms that rely upon power, favour and political ambition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We may be
quick to dismiss James and John and their swift response to the question of
their lord as he asks <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“ Are you able to drink of the cup I drink
and be baptised with the Baptism I am baptised with” <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We,
especially with hindsight, might be tempted to judge their response as
foolhardy and not thought out. For Jesus has just told them what awaits him in
Jerusalem in the preceding verses of the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Jesus has
just told them that the cup that is to be held out to him contains a bitter and
deadly draft. But these two disciples accept without question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">However what
in fact the two disciples reveal is a quality that is worth striving for, an
obedience and desire to accept what ever it takes to follow their Lord. And in
the light of their response we need to ask ourselves <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Could we,
would we, accept the cup and baptism of Jesus if we were looking at the
suffering humiliation and death that Jesus was looking at?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“ You will Drink the cup I drink
and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with” </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">replies Jesus to you and me who dare to
accept him as our Lord and who risk everything to follow him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Although
Jesus is unable to grant James and John a place at his side, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">These
places belong to those whom they have been prepared”</i></b>: Jesus is able to
assure them, and you and me, that should we drink of the cup He drinks we will
not be left drinking on our own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As we think
of the terrible violence in Syria and once again erupting in Israel/Palestine
with 17 killed last week<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As we are
reminded all over again of the mindless and senseless loss of life on our
streets as a 17 year old was stabbed to death in West London yesterday<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As we worry
about what is ahead of us this week in our own lives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let us place
our hope and faith in God through his Son Jesus Christ who is our servant king
and who calls us now to follow him, and bring our lives to him - as a daily
offering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let us pray<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
you shall not drown in your tears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But tears
shall bathe your wounds <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
you shall not die from hunger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But hunger
shall feed your souls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
you are not weak in your suffering<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But strong
and brave with knowing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
If you have known struggle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Only then
are you capable of loving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
be aware of the love you have<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let not your
tears submerge it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let not your
hunger eat it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let not your
suffering destroy it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oh people,
bitterness does not replace a grain of love <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let us be
awake in our love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-48830971082386472612015-10-12T08:16:00.002+01:002015-10-12T08:16:55.852+01:00Seek the Lord and live
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">SEEK THE LORD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #646464; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">6</span></sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Seek the Lord and live, or he will break out against the house of
Joseph like fire, and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it”
Amos 5.6</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">'Seek' is the key word in these verses. When we seek for something that
is lost, we do everything in our power to find it. Many of the people of
Israel, like Amos himself, were shepherds, and if they had lost a sheep they
would do anything in their power to seek it and bring it back to the safety of
the fold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some people have lost touch with one whom they love very much, and they
will do anything to seek them out and find them. We also use the word 'seek'
for some great aim and purpose that we have in life. In this way it is linked
to our hearts desire and the vision, aim and purpose of our life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the gospel reading set for this Sunday a young man is seeking the
answer to his desire to gain eternal life. Jesus looks at him, and loves him,
and because of that love tells him the truth, gives him the hard answer, that
for him he needs to sell his possessions so that there can be room for God in
his heart and mind and life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is challenging to ask ourselves what, or whom, we seek most in our
lives. It was this kind of question with which Amos challenged Israel to take
stock of where they were as God’s chosen people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From the previous chapter of this fiery prophets words we read how keen
many of the people of Israel were about their religion. They went to the famous
sanctuaries of Bethel and Gilgal, famous because of what God had done there in
years past. They offered many sacrifices. They brought their tithes. They made
their freewill offerings so that everyone could see how religious they were.
'For so you love to do', the Lord said to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But God made plain through the message of Amos that He had no pleasure
in what they were doing. It was only multiplying their sins, because their
hearts were far from God, and while they worshipped in the sanctuaries, they
were oppressing the poor and corrupting justice (2:6-8 and 8:4-6). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So now Amos challenges them about what they were really seeking, and
says directly to them, 'Do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or
cross over to Beer-sheba'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Amos is challenging the people not to go to the established temples, the
places where God is known to have spoken or places where he has appeared in the
past. Not to seek God in the familiar places but in the unknown in the strange
places. Amos is challenging them that if they are true seekers of God then they
will be taken outside of their comfort zone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Amos is critical of those around him who show the outward appearance of
piety but who do not let their faith in God change their lives and influence
their choices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Going to a place of worship has no meaning or value, unless we seek God.
It is He who matters - that we should know Him, love Him, serve Him, and do His
will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">'Seek Me' said the Lord through Amos. 'Seek the Lord,' said the prophet,
to those around him; if there was one message that to his dying day Amos would
have wanted more than any other to bring to the people, it would have been just
that, “Seek the Lord and live.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Real life is found only in seeking and knowing Him. Life otherwise is
not truly worthwhile. Not His holy places, not His great gifts, but Himself, we
are to seek. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As Augustine put it, God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are
restless until they find rest in Him. We may go to the place of worship and yet
not have God. We may have God's gifts, we may have money, power, importance,
but without God we have no real life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How wonderful it is that we do not need to depend on going on pilgrimage
to a special place of worship, that our life does not really depend on wealth
or power that we have, but that wherever we are we can seek God Himself and
find Him! We can live each day knowing that He is with us, that He is guiding
us, and giving us strength. 'Seek the Lord and live' is the word of Amos that
still comes to us.<span style="color: #850000;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Instead of upholding what was just, they 'cast down righteousness to the
earth'. If they continued in this way, then they must face the fire of judgment
as much as each of the nations of whom Amos spoke in 1:3-2:5. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What is true of Israel, the chosen nation of the
Earth, is true of us here at St John and St Matthias. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we are facing a time of
change. At the end of the month our vicar leaves the parishes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Some of the old ways of doing
things may no longer be relevant or able to bring people to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It maybe that God is calling
you to find him at work not in the familiar but in the unexpected?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In a few months time our
bishop, Bishop Rob will come and ask <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“what is it that God is calling you to do in
his name in this community?” What are you seeking by way of a new priest, a new
leader? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Where is God leading you as a
congregation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Let your answer be that you “Seek
the Lord so that you may live” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-23926234652521894132015-09-28T08:17:00.001+01:002015-09-28T08:17:30.518+01:00Whoever is not against us is for us<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">In the September of 1999, 16
years ago, when I arrived in the parish of St John tone of the first things we
did was have a PCC away day to look at what we thought God was calling us to do
and be in West Hendon. It was a day of visions and dreams and yes a little
reminiscence much has happened in the intervening years that I believe to have
been positive.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">One of the challenges was to
find a strap line, a simple sentence that would sum up our first Mission Action
Plan that came out of that away day all those years ago. In my mind there were
two possibilities the first was the quote from Jesus recorded by St Mark that
we have just heard this morning in our gospel reading: Whoever is not against
us is for us”, but in the end it was the words of John our Patron that we used
“I came that you might have life and have it in abundance”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John 10.10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Looking back over the last 16
years of course I think it is fair to say that much of what we have been able
to achieve together, at that time a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>small group of around 30 regular worshipping
Adults, we have not done on our own but by making relationships and alliances
with those around us who, like us, wish to join in the endeavour of living life
in abundance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we faced the prospect of
closure all those years ago we have been confident, creative and compassionate,
to use the latest language of our Diocese, in embracing the challenges around
us, in responding to the needs of those whom God has called us to minster to,
to witness to and too whom we strive to carry the light of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It has maybe at times meant
that we have worked with those with whom we might never have conceived of as
partners in gospel, Muslim and Hindu neighbours and of course those for whom a
faith in God in not just faint memory but non existent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But this is the same
situation that the few who followed Jesus, his disciples, faced 2000 years ago.
When faced with that challenge, proclaiming the good news in a multicultural
and Multifaith landscape, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the disciples
displayed the all to familiar and natural tendency to retreat to the security
of the known – we saw someone casting out demons in your name but we tried to
stop him because he was not following us. Isn’t it interesting that when the
disciples, who have been sent out to spread the gospel, see some sign of the
Kingdom of God breaking into the turmoil and chaos of the world their response
is to make it all about them…<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he was not following us</i></b>! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">At a time when the strongest
voices of those in the church seem to be advocating a breaking up of consensus,
a demand for ever tighter definitions of who is right and who is wrong; who is
in and who is out. At a time when individual choice is put above collective
solidarity Jesus’ words stand as a rebuke “Do not stop him for no one who does
a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
Whoever is not against us is for us”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In his tour of America we are
seeing the Pope challenge the Roman Catholic church to turn from the rhetoric
of division and judgement and embrace the values of the gospel that is built
upon the one who forgives, who seeks out the lost and fallen and raises them up
and gives live – live in abundance. This Sunday he is in a Prison in the States
not to add to the judgement and condemnation of those men but to offer another
narrative one of forgiveness and love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Many of our most joyous and
life filled days have been with our neighbours, The many years of being a
partner with the Barnet Multicultural centre next door and organising the
Barnet Multicultural days. The endless run of summer fetes, cream teas, coffee
mornings, Christmas bazars, harvest festivals and the list goes on have been
enriched by those who have come to join us in our live and celebration of life
as God’s children attempting to live faithfully under Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When we look at the text of
our gospel this morning it is of direct relevance to us that the words of Jesus
“whoever is not against us is for us” come as a response to the fear and
exclusivity of the disciples. “Teacher we saw someone casting out a demon in
your name and we tried to stop him<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>because he was not following us” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Someone doing good “casting
out a demon” provokes a response in the mind and actions of the disciples that
seeks to prevent the good from happening “We tried to stop him” . It is
interesting that they tried and failed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But why? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Maybe the clue is in the
words of warning that follow the command of Jesus to his disciples not to be
afraid of the “other” not to seek to control the agents of God who bring peace
and health to this world but who may be from a group outside of our own making?
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus warns his disciples, and
he warns us, that if your eye cause to you stumble tear it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">St Paul warns us of the power
of the tongue to both build up the body of Christ and also to inflict division
and pain. Jesus is using the metaphor of the eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We are being warned of the
dangers of the green eyed monster- envy and jealousy <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we are being warned of the
wandering eye that can lead us down a path of betrayal suffering and the death
of relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is so often our judgments
born from envy and jealousy that cause the pain and division that is in the
church of out time. We cannot accept that someone who so unlike us, that others
who we find it impossible to understand or love are in fact also loved by God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The divisions within the
church are human made not God made. If the inclination of the church is to make
a judgement about the lives of others then this is in stark contrast to the
person and example of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We need to learn that there are more ways than we can understand in
which God comes to us and in which we come to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We should no stop anyone because they are not doing things in the way
that we do things. God is far bigger than our comprehension and works in so many
ways beyond our understanding: we must guard against being exclusivity of human
nature that tries to turn the Church in to a club of like minded people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As Followers of Christ we are called to work in this world of his, a
world vast and complex, a world of wondering beauty and amazing diversity <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with a generosity that we see in the life and
death of Jesus Christ who for us while we were still sinners came that we might
have life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is this generosity of Spirit that is a sign of the Kingdom and one
that stands in stark contrast to the envy, jealousy and mean spiritedness of
the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one
who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil
of me. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span class="vlchversenumber"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">40</span></i></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Whoever
is not against us is for us.</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-9343461946628123412015-09-02T12:11:00.001+01:002015-09-02T12:11:29.956+01:00Community fund day at West Hendon<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sQy43l9Y0tw/VebY_ge3KjI/AAAAAAAABys/j0wS5KT4bgU/s640/blogger-image-1706114922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sQy43l9Y0tw/VebY_ge3KjI/AAAAAAAABys/j0wS5KT4bgU/s640/blogger-image-1706114922.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rzqP4dkmQrg/VebZMWRkRMI/AAAAAAAABzU/FRpD5ZxHMJU/s640/blogger-image--2142144909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rzqP4dkmQrg/VebZMWRkRMI/AAAAAAAABzU/FRpD5ZxHMJU/s640/blogger-image--2142144909.jpg"></font></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PcO81q2XaI8/VebZKRiBT3I/AAAAAAAABzM/iVJ4WZwmtuA/s640/blogger-image-1080218318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PcO81q2XaI8/VebZKRiBT3I/AAAAAAAABzM/iVJ4WZwmtuA/s640/blogger-image-1080218318.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Although the rain fall and the sun hide families came to enjoy the day. </div><div>There was plenty of food</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N4rnENJ27kY/VebZX5g2YnI/AAAAAAAABzs/wKsw98dAnQ0/s640/blogger-image-1043160303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N4rnENJ27kY/VebZX5g2YnI/AAAAAAAABzs/wKsw98dAnQ0/s640/blogger-image-1043160303.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>The history book capturing the oral history of West Hendon was on didplay and residents were able to add their stories to those already recorded. A giant version was created on the day</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UX166yMqgQc/VebZD1S8eeI/AAAAAAAABy8/8D7NeJbjn9M/s640/blogger-image-2043801528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UX166yMqgQc/VebZD1S8eeI/AAAAAAAABy8/8D7NeJbjn9M/s640/blogger-image-2043801528.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>The day gave a chance for everyone to finish off the mosaic panels being created throughout the summer</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SqJxom9xX3c/VebZTA59JMI/AAAAAAAABzc/AB-eTHm39TI/s640/blogger-image--1444087609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SqJxom9xX3c/VebZTA59JMI/AAAAAAAABzc/AB-eTHm39TI/s640/blogger-image--1444087609.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>The day was gave an opportunity for Barnet homes and the SNT to engage with residents. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QUEHcoaLrUU/VebZF4yOm0I/AAAAAAAABzE/YZ6MJGt82d4/s640/blogger-image-361172372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QUEHcoaLrUU/VebZF4yOm0I/AAAAAAAABzE/YZ6MJGt82d4/s640/blogger-image-361172372.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-frOB83WvEpA/VebZVjZylTI/AAAAAAAABzk/nUbU-0ehMkY/s640/blogger-image-1180294894.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-frOB83WvEpA/VebZVjZylTI/AAAAAAAABzk/nUbU-0ehMkY/s640/blogger-image-1180294894.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1YEh_wxbfWI/VebY7uHSWnI/AAAAAAAAByk/imAxpJZoNbA/s640/blogger-image-268067815.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1YEh_wxbfWI/VebY7uHSWnI/AAAAAAAAByk/imAxpJZoNbA/s640/blogger-image-268067815.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-79OjBYPUOac/VebZBov11SI/AAAAAAAABy0/1HTmrI6etK8/s640/blogger-image-1555714330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-79OjBYPUOac/VebZBov11SI/AAAAAAAABy0/1HTmrI6etK8/s640/blogger-image-1555714330.jpg"></a></div>Faith leaders join together </div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-24404729762934147052015-08-29T13:14:00.001+01:002015-08-30T08:14:50.664+01:00Congratulations to Alekandr Izuchulwu on his Baptism<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZYiA53RuivU/VeGiN4QeyiI/AAAAAAAAByU/kIyRqjByEAY/s640/blogger-image--1166553896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZYiA53RuivU/VeGiN4QeyiI/AAAAAAAAByU/kIyRqjByEAY/s640/blogger-image--1166553896.jpg" /></a></div>
Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-29656527112162734852015-08-29T11:01:00.001+01:002015-08-29T11:01:45.842+01:00Congratulations to Ovie and Anita on their wedding<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Mr and Mrs Oba leave church</div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hAHMRmTZyfU/VeGDBz00uJI/AAAAAAAAByE/eye5e7YIkdY/s640/blogger-image-85701329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hAHMRmTZyfU/VeGDBz00uJI/AAAAAAAAByE/eye5e7YIkdY/s640/blogger-image-85701329.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Some of the congregation at the reception</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xB7pci_Fq0I/VeGC-w0quPI/AAAAAAAABx0/3fZuYHt_5CM/s640/blogger-image--235312528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xB7pci_Fq0I/VeGC-w0quPI/AAAAAAAABx0/3fZuYHt_5CM/s640/blogger-image--235312528.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z2AqC-U6gwk/VeGDAqgrvVI/AAAAAAAABx8/fpdJ58GElR8/s640/blogger-image--1003581436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z2AqC-U6gwk/VeGDAqgrvVI/AAAAAAAABx8/fpdJ58GElR8/s640/blogger-image--1003581436.jpg"></font></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-10891306857305962622015-08-16T21:55:00.000+01:002015-08-16T21:55:00.820+01:00unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GrLzFBOzDME/VdD3g3ON8wI/AAAAAAAABxQ/p0pmqy3fd24/s1600/bread_of_life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GrLzFBOzDME/VdD3g3ON8wI/AAAAAAAABxQ/p0pmqy3fd24/s1600/bread_of_life.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Many of us associate the best times in our lives with food, a special meal marks a significant birthday, a moment of joy or loss. Some of us have a favourite meal in the day, is it breakfast or lunch or does the day lead us with anticipation to the joy of an evening meal? All of us use food to define ourselves and our place in this world. Our cultural identity is inextricably bound up with the food we place into our mouths and take into our bodies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">It is not surprising the Jesus chose to use food and special meals to talk about the Kingdom of God, the new community he was creating by his words and works in Galilee. Indeed it often with Jesus at a meal that we learn of the forgiveness offered to sinners and we see the intimacy of those first friendships in the life of his followers that should mark the communion we have as his body the church today.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 19px;">Nothing becomes more closely united with us than the food we
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In every Eucharist we celebrate the wonder of our redemption
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a member of Christ’s Church. The Sacrament points to the cross of Christ as our
enduring and unsurpassed source of salvation and as our storehouse of grace.
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is of course a wonderful thing that the mystery of our faith is revealed, or is it hidden in the most common and everyday realities, bread and wine.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus talks as he does in this morning’s Gospel because he
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As sure as we eat the consecrated bread and drink the sacred
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Here we’re given the love revealed on the cross, to fire up
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zLcLOcxJsXQ/VdD4XGtkGtI/AAAAAAAABxg/byH_Hp3-lD0/s1600/6a00d834515d1e69e200e54f5efee18833-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zLcLOcxJsXQ/VdD4XGtkGtI/AAAAAAAABxg/byH_Hp3-lD0/s320/6a00d834515d1e69e200e54f5efee18833-800wi.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The life that Jesus promised to us - life abundant, life in
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This life is ours if we are prepared to come and take bread and drink wine. It is ours through the greatest miracle of Jesus who changes the bread we eat into his body and the wine we taste into his blood.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 19px;"> John 6:53, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 19px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Very truly, I tell you,
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<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-88183186729643465272015-08-15T14:26:00.001+01:002015-08-15T14:27:09.351+01:00Congratulations to becky and Jason married today<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ekYKtVyBxvA/Vc8-GTYXIsI/AAAAAAAABxA/s6Z_UEFuGlo/s640/blogger-image-32155477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ekYKtVyBxvA/Vc8-GTYXIsI/AAAAAAAABxA/s6Z_UEFuGlo/s640/blogger-image-32155477.jpg"></a></div>Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-70161414546927589622015-08-10T08:58:00.000+01:002015-08-10T08:58:06.692+01:00Be imitators of God
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Be imitators of God , the
author of the letter to the Ephesians exhorts the early church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is a bold statement<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is a statement that would
have caused some confusion and even contention, these words are startling and
upsetting and seem to be an impossible ideal – how can we seriously be expected
to be imitators of God?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So what does this challenge
we find in scripture mean for you and me? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">How is it possible for a
sinner like me to be imitate God?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Sometimes it is easier to
understand something when we look at what it is not?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The writer is not saying we
should try and put ourselves in the place of God. This is something that all of
us who believe in God struggle with, the temptation or the desire to be God
like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What do I mean by God like ?–
never being wrong, knowing everything, being in control of one’s destiny. We
are not called to try and imitate God’s sovereignty. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He alone is eternal,
omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, etc. These are attributes that God cannot
or will not share with us, but they are the very things that often come between
ourselves and God and lead us away from a life of obedience to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So the author is not saying
strive to us be like God in that way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So we return to the question
what does it mean to be imitators of God? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For Christians the answer
lies in the person of Jesus. We believe that Jesus is God, not just a prophet
or a holy man, but God. We state this every time we recite the creed at the
Eucharist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">God from God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">light from light<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">true God from true God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">of one being with the Father<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">so to be imitators of God we
have to look at the person of Jesus in whom we see the fullness of God, not a
partial reflection of God but the fullness of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is because of the
revelation of God in Jesus Christ that we are able to draw near to God, to know
God – through him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">To be imitators of God
therefore we need to imitate Jesus, not just admire him or follow him but be
him in this world. This is something that we can do without running the risk
associated with trying to take on the sovereignty of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As imitators of Jesus Christ
we too reach out and welcome the stranger the sick and disposed, we too walk
along side the poor and the destitute. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This may sound easy but look
at how hard just in the last few weeks it has been to do that when we hear the
language used to speak about refugees in Calais or fleeing north Africa to find
refuge in Europe? And how different our society seems to be from 75 years ago
when we did open our doors to those who were fleeing the evils of Nazism, how
in this part of London we welcomed the children of Israel who left their
parents to be exterminated in the death camps and began new lives here in this
part of London. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">How different is our language
from 40 years ago when we welcomed hundred and thousands of East African Indians
many of whom came to these parishes to begin a new life free from the tyranny
and evil of Edi Armin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Be imitators of God
challenges the author of the letter to the Ephesians. If we are to take up this
challenge then we will not be able to close our lives, our doors, our boarders
to those around us and their needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We imitate Jesus in the way
in which he loves the way in which he was obedient to God the father even to
the point of giving up his own life that we might have life and life in
abundance. We see in Jesus the only begotten Son of God and are called to
imitate this Son of God and in so doing become one with him as the Son of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We imitate God by being his
children, as surely as Jesus was the Son of God, so you and I are the children
of God and through Jesus are offered a new relationship that is defined and
transformed by Love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As children of God we are to
live within this relationship of love that begins and ends with the Cross,
Where Jesus gave his life to the Father and received it back at the
resurrection. So too when we imitate Jesus we give our life to God and he
returns it to us for eternity through the promise of the resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #646464; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">1</span></sup></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #646464; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">2</span></sup></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">and live in love, as Christ
loved us</span></i></b><a href="file:///javascript/void(0)%3B"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0000b6; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">*</span></sup></i></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> and gave himself up for us,
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">.
Ephesians 5.1-2<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">How does Jesus love us in whom we see the fullness of God, by the way he
loves us, forgives us, treat us with compassion and kindness. Thank God we have
not been treated as we deserve, in deed how we would be had not Jesus taken up
his cross and given himself us for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-11244688089053515862015-08-02T21:51:00.001+01:002015-08-02T21:51:10.837+01:00Jesus the bread of life<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Over
the next month the gospel readings in Church come from the 6<sup>th</sup>
Chapter of St John’s gospel. It an important chapter in the account of Jesus
live and teaching according to St John. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMIR-0nXoCI/Vb6ClGfJvpI/AAAAAAAABwU/KiDmtk2Wjqg/s1600/miracle20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMIR-0nXoCI/Vb6ClGfJvpI/AAAAAAAABwU/KiDmtk2Wjqg/s320/miracle20.jpg" width="273" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
chapter begins with the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, which we looked at
together last week, it begins with a miracle of God’s ability to provide for
those who place their faith in him, as powerful as when 4,000 years earlier
those who placed in their faith in God and his servant Moses were led from
Slavery in Egypt, through the red sea and the desert beyond towards to the
promise land. The chapter however ends with these words in Verse 66 “Because of
this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And
what was “this” thing that caused many of the disciples to loose faith in the
person of Jesus – the teaching of Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum. Teaching
about the Eucharist, the bread from heaven, his own flesh and blood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">No
wonder that there has in the history and life of the church and in the
experiences of the church been so much dissent and argument over our
understanding of the Eucharist, the Mass, the Holy communion, so much argument
over what Jesus and his church mean when they declare “This is the body of
Christ”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
parable of the feeding of the 5000, that opens this chapter, makes a bold claim
that Jesus is here for both the crowd and the disciples </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He shows this by
seeing to it that the crowd is satisfied and twelve basketfuls are left
over—one for each apostle. So the miracle has a message for the world, and a
personal lesson for the apostles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To the multitude, he was saying: I am the bread of heaven. Just like God
sent your ancestors manna in the wilderness to sustain their life, he has sent
me into the world to give life—eternal life. What Jesus gives is something more
than has ever been given before for the life of this world and everyone of us
created in God’s image in this world. And personally, he was saying to the
apostles: Serve me faithfully, and you will never lack what you need, indeed
you will find that you have more than when you first started. I will be for you
everything you need, even in the hour of suffering and death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However it is clear that both the crowd and the disciples run the risk
of missing the true significance of this miracle. John’s gospel is sometimes
referred to the book of signs. The first miracle that Jesus performs is the
transformation of water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, it is
recorded as such. Here in miracle of the feeding of the 5000 is another sign. A
sign pointing beyond the miracle itself to an eternal truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The danger is that we get caught up in the sign and forget to look where
it is pointing. If set out on a walk in a place I have never been before and
get lost without a map, the sight of a signpost indicating the direction of
travel will be most welcome. Anxiety about the right direction of travel will
be replaced with the glowing relief that the direction is now clear, the danger
of becoming lost is replaced with certainty that my destination can now be
reached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However the sign in of itself will not ensure that our journey will end
well – we cannot simply sit down by the sign and be thankful, we still must
continue on the path. But having seen the sign, that path will not be as hard
as it was without the sign and with only our doubts and fear to guide us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Then the disciples in verse 34 say “give us this bread always” what
exactly do you think they were asking for?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Was it for the physical bread that could sate their hunger and sustain
their lives without them having to labour for the money with which to purchase
a life time supply of the bread? Was it that with this bread, always there for
them, they could sit down and never again worry about where their next mouthful
would come from?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If the answer is yes to these questions then they have missed the point,
they have focused on the bread, and ignored the sign and to whom the sign is
pointing. What has satisfied them is the product of this miracle, rather than
the person, Jesus Christ. Jesus warns in verse 26 “You are looking for me, not
because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They have labored for that which will perish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What does the sign point to – to Jesus who will provide us with what we
need if we bring what we have to him. It points to Jesus who is the food that
endures for eternal life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we see the feeding of the 5000 as a sign of eternal life how does
this affect the way in which we get up tomorrow on Monday morning and go about
our daily living?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The key to the answer is found in verses 28–29: “Then they said to him,
‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’” Now that question follows
from what Jesus just said. He said, “Labour, or work, for the food that endures
to eternal life.” And they ask, How? What are those works? How do you work for
the bread that gives eternal life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The answer is simple – to believe in Jesus. Jesus answers in verse 29,
“This is the work of God”—this is the kind of work you do - to please God and
get the bread that gives life, this is the work that you do—namely, “that you
believe in him whom God has sent.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F-jiPpxf2WY/Vb6A-o4xpBI/AAAAAAAABwA/Gq1-vy3h9sk/s1600/communion-wafer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F-jiPpxf2WY/Vb6A-o4xpBI/AAAAAAAABwA/Gq1-vy3h9sk/s320/communion-wafer.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So what does it mean to “labour for the food that endures to eternal
life”? Jesus says in verse 29 that it means believe in Jesus as the bread that
God has sent from heaven for the life of the world. “Believe in him whom he has
sent.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And belief in Him whom God has sent will mean that we will not become
either distracted or obsessed with the bread (the product of the miracle) that
we have in our laps but in the one who makes it possible (the person) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 308.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">'"Bread for myself," wrote a great
Russian thinker, "is a physical question; bread for my neighbour is a
spiritual question."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 308.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 308.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The basic needs of those around me, my neighbours
struggle for life and their lack of bread, is not just a political or economic
question but a spiritual one as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 308.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 308.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Archbishop Rowan has said “The hunger or need of
some is the problem of all, I am not being fed if my neighbour is struggling, nor
is my neighbour fed when I am hungry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
injunction upon us by our Lord when he teaches his disciples to pray <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Give
us to day our daily bread” is one that means we cannot be content only with our
own needs but the needs of all God’s children. Praying for daily bread is a way
of countering the forces of our modern age that seeks to compartmentalise life
so that the over all picture becomes obscure until it is finally lost all
together and at this point the evil of which we pray to be delivered -swallows
us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
hunger or need of some is the problem of all - which is exactly what St Paul
says about living in the Body of Christ in his first letter to Corinth:
"If one part of the Body suffers, all suffer."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-33929316486809960962015-07-26T08:32:00.001+01:002015-07-29T18:12:32.710+01:00transforming life through generosity - Feeding of the multitude<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the story of the feeding of the multitude we read of how in spite of the
rational, understandable doubt expressed by the disciples the impossible is
made possible. From small beginnings Jesus is able to manifest his glory, a
little faith goes a long way just as a few loaves and fishes feed the
multitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Despite
these small beginnings, the hungry are fed,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
there are leftovers - indeed in the story involving Jesus there is an abundance
of leftovers - there is more than when the feast first began.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l8ESMEBjQVo/VbSM5GJrSQI/AAAAAAAABvs/WqHhYNIG1VM/s1600/shutterstock_29895109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l8ESMEBjQVo/VbSM5GJrSQI/AAAAAAAABvs/WqHhYNIG1VM/s320/shutterstock_29895109.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
feeding of the multitude, as John calls it, is the only miracle that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus
did that is described in all four gospels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For this reason, if no<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">other,
we need to pay close attention to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
need to ask ourselves - why <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is
this so?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it about this miracle -
unlike all the other miracles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">performed
by Jesus - that so catches the attention of all the gospel writers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
think it has to do with at least three separate things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
first is the fact that this story tells us that Jesus is used by God -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he
has God's blessings, remember at his baptism the voice of God is heard
declaring to the world that here is God’s son the beloved in whom he is
pleased, and is able to feed the hungry - much as<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the
people of Israel were fed by God in the wilderness with Manna.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
fact John goes on after the telling of this story to speak of Jesus as the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">bread
of heaven come down to earth - the one who is not only able to satisfy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the
physical hunger of his people - but their spiritual hunger as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus
has, and is able to use, the power of God to feed the hungry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
second thing is that the story shows us not only God's power at work in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus,
but also God's care for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God reaches
out through Jesus to meet the needs of those who are following him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus
cares for those who seek him out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
wants to meet their needs, and he<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">instructed
his disciples, and so he instructs you and I his church, to work together to
ensure that the needs of those around us, the multitude are met. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
third thing is that the story shows us is that Jesus is able to take what<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is
offered to him and to multiply it - so that where there first seemed not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">enough
it ends up by being more than enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is a story of a man named Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul had received a special pre-Christmas
gift from his brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was a beautiful new car - fully loaded and
ready to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Christmas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a
street kid was walking around<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the shiny new car, admiring it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Is this your car, mister?", the
kid<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When he replied that it was., and that his brother had given<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it to him for Christmas, the boy said,
"You mean your brother gave it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to you, and it didn't cost you
anything?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Free?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Nothing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Gosh,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish..."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boy hesitated, and Paul knew what he was
about to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heard it many times over the past few
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was going to wish he<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had a brother like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what the boy said shocked Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I wish", the boy said, "I
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Praise
be to God who multiplies that which is given to him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">day
by day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-35876722893769369482015-07-12T08:38:00.001+01:002015-07-12T08:38:53.900+01:00senseless violence is given meaning in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another meaningless murder.
Another life destroyed. A massacre of holiday makers in Tunisia; Escalating
violence in Iraq and talk of ground troop’s in Syria, A fresh bunch of flowers
appears on the road side. A family, a community<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>broken by a sudden and unforeseen death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This is the world of this
past few weeks, it is our world just as much as it is the world of Mark’s gospel. John the
Baptist’s beheading wasn’t necessarily a unique event during the Roman
occupation of Palestine—and, you could say, it’s hard to see how it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">wouldn’t</b> fit in our world today, especially
when we witness the barbaric actions of terrorists in the Arab world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For the sake of the stability
of Palestine, Herod and others in the Roman administration had to douse the
wild-fires of revolution spreading across the countryside by silencing protesting
voices—and sometimes, as in the case of Jesus’ cousin, John, the best way to
quiet the tongue, to silence a protest, was to cut off a head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But we don’t remember this
story in Mark 6 as just another example of the violence Empire’s, and corrupt
regimes thinks is necessary to stay afloat in a sea of anarchic terror. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For some reason Mark thinks
this murder is an important piece in the story of Jesus. But the funny thing
about this episode in the drama is that Mark doesn’t really explain why we
should think it’s important; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Mark begins his gospel with
this enigmatic figure appearing in the wilderness baptising. After Jesus, it is
the person of John the Baptist to whom Mark dedicates the most verses of his
gospel – more than Mary or Peter or any other character within his compact
edition of the life of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Mark doesn’t tell us why
John’s death is significant. He doesn’t explain why this bit of information
fits in the story of Jesus of Nazareth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Right after the story of
John’s beheading, Mark returns to the disciples’ adventures as if the past 16
verses—the ones we just heard this morning—didn’t even happen. Except that he
just spent all that time telling us about it. What’s Mark up to? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Why is this detailed story
important?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We walk away from the text
very curious. And here’s the question I think Mark forces us to think about: Is
this death important to us? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If our answer is yes, then we
have to ask a follow up question: Why is this death significant to us? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Mark doesn’t do the work for
us. He leaves us on our own. How do we give this death significance? How do we
make it important for our understanding of the story of Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The death of John is of
course pointless, its senseless. King Herod cuts off John’s head for no
significant reason—and so in one sense this story is not an important part of
bigger story of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And I wonder if this is not
also true when it comes to all the deaths that we hear of and talk about today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There is so much death in our
modern time, and it seems so senseless—somebody killed over a grudge, like
Herodias’ grudge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Countless victims of war, of
crime, of murder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another Father or husband
taken before his expected time<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For most of the deaths, in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and now Tunisia even the streets of our own city
their names mean so little to us. We may well stop for a minute to pay tribute,
as we did last week on the 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the 52 people who
were killed by the July bombers, and then we have to, we choose to get back to
our lives and all that demand’s our attention from the moment we wake until the
moment we take our rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For the most part those
nameless people who we read of and are told about don’t play a role in the
story of our lives, at least we don’t live and act like they do. They don’t
really fit. They are senseless victims of violence. Victims of someone else’s
madness. And that’s what Mark gives us in the middle of his story about Jesus—a
senseless beheading, the product of a drunken oath, the consequence of that age
old sin Pride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">By placing this death in the
middle of the Gospel, Chapter 6,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St Mark
is placing a story about a tragic and senseless death<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the middle of a far greater and more
important story. The story of the death of Jesus of Nazareth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And this maybe is the way in
which St Mark is suggesting we understand our life and the lives of those
around us. Because of the importance and significance of the death of Jesus our
view of death is transformed, so that there is no truly senseless or
meaningless death. When we consider John’s beheading, just as we should when we
hear and see the victims of the violence of this world we do so in the context
of the death of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And here is the answer to
question I asked earlier Why is this death significant to us? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">John’s death is significant
because Jesus takes into himself the wounds of all victims as he breathes his
last on the cross. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus’ crucifixion gives
John’s beheading significance, and in turn brings a new understanding and hope
in to the face of loss and tragedy so that death does not have the last word. This
is the case for John the Baptist and it is now true for every other senseless
and tragic death since that of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Mark includes John’s
beheading in the middle of Jesus’ story, even when it doesn’t contribute
anything to the unfolding drama, Mark wants us to see that every senseless
death finds a place in Jesus’ story. It’s already there. John’s beheading shows
us that victims of violence, even when senseless, belong to the story of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And if death is important so
then is life – the life of each one of us. It is in the writing of St Paul that
we see this most clearly articulated. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He,
that is God, destined us for adoption as his children though Jesus Christ</b>
v5 of the fist chapter in his epistle to the Ephesians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is because through Jesus
Christ that we enter a relationship with God like that of a child with a parent
– precious and loved that we find the ultimate meaning in the meaningless fact
of death because in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">v7 In him, Jesus
Christ, we have redemption through his blood….<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us therefore in the prayers we offer today
and every day in the week ahead, echo the words of St Paul as he writes to the
Ephesians:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blessed be God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
before him in love.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-62536401687679921642015-07-09T20:50:00.001+01:002015-07-09T20:50:22.832+01:00News from our Bishop -and for your prayers<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" class="" id="templatePreheader" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; width: 600px;"><tbody>
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<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td class="" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Number 10 announced new bishops of Edmonton and Islington today. The Bishop of London announces the next Archdeacon of Hampstead. <a href="http://www.london.anglican.org/articles/ad-clerum-new-bishops-edmonton-islington-archdeacon-hampstead/">View it in your browser</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
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<table align="center" bgcolor="#d80518" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" valign="middle"><table align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="20" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" valign="middle"><img alt="Bishop of London's crest and motto: Amor Vincit Omnia" border="0" height="225" src="http://gabriel.london.anglican.org/open/DOL_newsletter_images/bol/header.jpg" width="600" /></td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="left" class="style1" style="color: black; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" valign="top">Dear friends<br /></td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td class="heading" style="color: black; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">Bishops of Edmonton and Islington; Archdeacon of Hampstead</td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="left" class="style1" style="color: black; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" valign="top"><br />Downing Street announced this morning that the Queen has approved the nomination of the <strong>Reverend Rob Wickham </strong>to serve as Area Bishop of Edmonton and the <strong>Reverend</strong> <strong>Ric Thorpe</strong> to serve as the Bishop of the revived See of Islington. I am also delighted to announce that <strong>Prebendary John Hawkins</strong> has accepted my invitation to succeed Luke Miller as Archdeacon of Hampstead.<br /><br />I was grateful for the help of the Edmonton Advisory Group and more than a hundred correspondents in establishing that the most important challenge facing the next Bishop of Edmonton was making an energetic Christian response to rapid social and demographic change within the four boroughs and in particular in the areas identified for development.<br /><br />The consultations revealed a unanimous appreciation for Bishop Peter’s “gracious leadership and consistent pastoral care”. It is a tribute to Bishop Peter, assisted by Archdeacon Luke Miller, that unity has been on the whole preserved and the Area transformed during their partnership.<br /><br />In his eight years at St John’s, Rob Wickham has been in the forefront of re-energising the church and engaging with the local community to bring a distinctive Christian contribution to regeneration in Hackney.<br /><br />He is a missional Catholic with a record of fruitful cooperation with other strands of church life in the Diocese. As a former member of the Camden Town team he is sympathetic with those who maintain traditional catholic teaching and will work within the London Plan while rejoicing in the new opportunities which the ordination of women to priesthood and episcopate has opened up.<br /><br />He will be moving during the summer with Helen, Tom, Susannah and Harry. The Archbishop of Canterbury has confirmed that he will consecrate the new Bishop on September 23rd in Canterbury, alongside the Bishops of Kensington and Maidstone.<br /><br />Prebendary John Hawkins has already had experience of serving in an Archidiaconal role in the Area together with many years of parish work at St John’s, West Hendon and St Matthias, Colindale. He has a special concern for the church’s contribution to education. The new team will be operating from the autumn when the Bishop of Willesden, after holding the fort over the past months, will be able to return to his many other responsibilities with huge gratitude for what he has done in a time of transition and understandable anxiety.<br /><br />The new diocesan team is finally completed with the appointment of Ric Thorpe as the second Bishop of Islington.<br /><br />In Capital Vision 2020, we committed ourselves to promote the creation of a hundred new worshipping communities within the Diocese by 2020. In the past twenty years over sixty have been established and in direct response to Capital Vision we are already in double figures. It is clear that those ministering in such pioneering posts together with the existing cohort of church planters need knowledgeable support and mentoring in the early years. At the same time if the Diocese is to develop as a learning community then there must be ways of harvesting the experience, both positive and negative of those who have been called to re-imagine the church for the 21st century. The need has been made all the more urgent because of the recent grant by the Church Commissioners of a substantial sum of development funding to assist our 2020 strategy.<br /><br />The Reverend Ric Thorpe, as the Diocesan Adviser on Church Planting, has already done a great deal of work in this field both supporting those involved in new ventures and applying the lessons learnt for pioneers in training as well for the many people beyond the Diocese who are interested in the London experience.<br /><br />The population of London is increasing once again although not so explosively as it did in the 19th century. The population of Victorian London increased from just over a million in 1800 to seven million by 1900. The old structures of church life were not adequate to the missionary challenge of such rapid and explosive growth. At the same time there was a recovery of a more energetic style of episcopal leadership and a new vision of the diocese as an instrument of mission and this argued the case for an increase in the number of bishops.<br /><br />At first there was a revival of some of the Sees left vacant since the end of the Elizabethan experiment with suffragan bishops. Bedford was created under the Suffragan Bishops’ Act of 1534 but fell into abeyance between 1560 and 1879 when Walsham How was appointed to minister in East London. West London was the responsibility of the Bishop of Marlborough from 1888 – 1918. During this period some of the surviving Area Bishoprics with more appropriate titles were established, beginning with Stepney in 1895.<br /><br />From 1898 – 1923, a former Rector of St George in the East, Charles Henry Turner occupied the See of Islington. When he died however the See went into abeyance. Now in the vastly different circumstances of the 21st century the decision has been taken to revive Islington as a response to contemporary missionary challenges.<br /><br />A number of deanery pilots are planned as a response to the General Synod’s work on “Intentional Evangelism” and we shall be experimenting with “porous” boundaries within the selected deaneries. At the same time the further use of school buildings to house new congregations will be explored.<br /><br />It is abundantly clear that crucial to the success of these initiatives is a supply of highly motivated, specially equipped and properly supported pioneer ministers. The entrepreneurial talent necessary and the ability to work without the support of long established structures require more and not less encouragement and oversight. Mentoring and building up a cadre of “alongside coaches” who will work with Area Bishops and the Diocesan Bishop to support pioneers has become an urgent necessity. The Bishop of Willesden has had a special responsibility for the oversight of pioneer ministries of various kinds and with the growth of his national and pan-Diocesan work new arrangements are urgently needed. The revived Bishopric of Islington will be free from the increasing administrative demands on Area Bishops in London but working collaboratively with episcopal colleagues to address the agendas opened up by the developments described above.<br /><br />The Bishop of Islington will be available to harvest and share experience of church growth strategies. He will be available to the whole Church of England as a resource as the Church pursues its intentional evangelism programme but at the same time the new Bishop will have the credibility of being a practitioner actively involved in church planting and supervising the new School of Church Growth in association with the staff of St Mellitus both in London, Chelmsford and at its Merseyside campus.<br /><br />The role is inherently episcopal but like bishops in early Anglo-Saxon England it has an emphasis on the responsibility which all bishops share on missionary work and church extension. The work already being done in London and other dioceses has always issued from invitations and there is no intention to intrude uninvited into anyone else’s jurisdiction.<br /><br />The Archbishop of Canterbury has warmly welcomed the appointment and has confirmed that he will consecrate the new Bishop of Islington in St Paul’s Cathedral on September 29th.<br /><br />I hope that you will hold all the new members of the London team in your prayers over the summer.<br /><br /></td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" class="style1" style="color: black; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" valign="bottom">With thanks for our partnership in the Gospel</td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" valign="middle"><img alt="Bishop of London's signature" border="0" height="147" src="http://gabriel.london.anglican.org/open/DOL_newsletter_images/bol/signature.jpg" width="450" /></td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" class="style1" style="color: black; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12pt;" valign="top">The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO DD FSA</td></tr>
<tr style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><td align="center" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" valign="middle"><a href="mailto:bishop@londin.clara.co.uk"><img alt="Bishop of London's contact information" border="0" height="65" src="http://gabriel.london.anglican.org/open/DOL_newsletter_images/bol/footer.jpg" width="600" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><img height="1" nosend="1" src="http://newsletters.london.anglican.org/rp//5038/Open.clsp?EmailId=1000032299&Token=0383A31303037333333383834" width="1" /></span>Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-14455600010864580792015-07-05T08:34:00.000+01:002015-07-05T08:34:07.715+01:00Letting go and letting God - living by God's grace
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On this 5<sup>th</sup> Sunday of Trinity we are challenged to
let go and let God and we are given two clear examples of those who have taken
up the call of discipleship and all that it requires of them in terms of
personal cost.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ezekiel was
called to be a prophet. Like many prophets before and after him it is a call
that carried a price. It cost him dear and exposed him to real trouble, danger
and persecution. God duly warns Ezekiel that he is giving him a mission
particularly unpleasant to fulfill and one that some would say was impossible. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“<span style="color: black;">I am sending you
to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ezekiel is neither a flatterer
nor a demagogue; he proclaims what God instructs him to say. Therefore he must
not expect to be well received by all. God does not entertain any illusions.
But neither does Ezekiel get discouraged. He is like the sower who throws his
seed by the handful knowing that most of the seed will never produce a crop,
some will fall on the path, some on rocky ground , some on thorny soil. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Is this wastefulness?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is this a lack of realism?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is this foolish and wasteful of
time and energy?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>NO<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">God
wants everyone to have a chance. He cannot resign himself to seeing the least
plot of ground lay fallow or denied the opportunity to produce a crop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>WHY<o:p></o:p></div>
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Because of his love for you and
me and the whole of his creation. Gods love causes him and you and me to go on
believing the unbelievable, go on hoping in the face of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hopelessness.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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St Paul knew the truth of this.
He who had been the leader of the persecution of the early church, <o:p></o:p></div>
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he who had taken part in the
murder of St Stephen, <o:p></o:p></div>
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he who had arrested many who
followed Jesus Christ, NOW becomes the greatest builder and defender of the church.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Paul knew trials and hardship and ultimately many years of
imprisonment BUT he writes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #646464; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">10</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #030000; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak,
then I am strong.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #030000; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paul reveals that he asked God
three times to remove the "thorn", whatever it might have been, but
that on each occasion the response was, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul takes this so literally
that he says he'll boast all the more gladly of his weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may dwell in him. He says that he's content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, since
through Christ, whenever he's weak, then paradoxically, he's strong.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It's one thing to say those
words, but quite another to have the faith to live them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of us live in our own
strength and do everything we can to ensure that we are strong enough to
withstand any of the rigours that life may unexpectedly throw at us. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Materially, we make sure that we
have a house and enough income to pay for it and maintain it. We take out
insurance against any physical calamities in life, and in recent years we have
become more and more likely to lay blame for our accidents and incidents and to
seek compensation for them from somebody else.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We're adult Christians and I'm
sure God expects us to look after ourselves and our families properly, so I
think we're right to take out insurance rather than to expect someone else to
pick up the pieces if things go wrong for us.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But this "insurance
attitude" does tend to spill over into every aspect of life. Many of us
like to see where we're going in the future and to make plans for five or ten
years ahead, and we're now encouraged to do that within our churches. But if
our plans are too well laid we can become a victim of our own success, for
there's little room for God to suddenly do a new thing if we have everything
tied up.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we take tight control of
our own lives or the lives of our churches, we are strong. But God's strength
is quite different to our own strength, and God's strength is made perfect in
weakness. People and churches who are able to let go of control often appear to
be weak, but God is able to work through them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Jesus sent out his
disciples on their very first mission, he refused to allow them to take
anything to ensure against danger. They were only to take the clothes they
stood up in. They were not to take any money (imagine going anywhere without
money, or at least a plastic card!) They were not to take any defensive weapons
to guard against wild animals. They were to go just as they were, and to throw
themselves on the mercy of others.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">That takes a lot of humility and
a lot of courage. But as well as being thrown on the mercy of other human
beings, they had to learn to rely totally upon God. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The disciples on their mission
and Paul in his life found that God's grace was sufficient for them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The question for us today is
this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is Gods grace sufficient for us
too? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is God's grace sufficient for
our church? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we look at these questions
the events in that small town of Nazareth speak to us with renewed vigour.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus faces rejection in his
home town. Not surprising you may say after all envy and jealousy have a way of
destroying relationships. Anger, resentment and jealousy cause disharmony
within a person, cause dis-ease. They are underlying currents that act as
blocks to God's love and healing power. And so Jesus found that even he was
unable to perform many miracles in his own country among his own kin.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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The church to day in our own
time is faced with ridicule and rejection in her “home town”. For the church in
the west and so called developed world is often in decline compared with the
massive growth in Africa and Asia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In our own country the voice of
the church is seemingly sidelined by internal debate and concern over money,
doctrine or scriptural interpretation. The church is often silenced by the
agenda of the press or is victim to the desire to destroy or pull down anything
or anyone who stands for authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our 21st century Western life is
so cushioned, seemingly technologically advanced that perhaps there is little
room for God to manoeuvre. Perhaps we too should take more risks for God, so
that his strength can become perfect in our weakness.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-52997432003598661912015-06-28T08:54:00.003+01:002015-06-28T08:54:24.845+01:00A touching place<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">I guess there are
many ways of talking about a church and maybe the poetry of John Bell from the
Iona community is as good as it gets – the church should be, can be, must be a
touching place where Christ shows his face and gives his embrace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mwlYt9xNVtE" width="459"></iframe></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We give thanks for our churches, St John is celebrating its feast of Dedication this morning, which stands as a sign to those whose faith and love of God led
them to this place and here to create a touching place with God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">St John's and St Matthias are truly places where people come and touch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lovers old and
young told hands and make vows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Bishops have come
and with gentle hands<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>baptized and confirmed, the faith of God’s children and the life Jesus calls us into and ordained those willing to
serve as priests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Those who have shed
the shackles of this life have been brought into this church, often carried by
their loved ones at the end of their life’s journey <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Here Heaven and
earth touch and Gods life is released in to the world and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">all of us can open
our hands and touch the living God in the sacrament of his body and blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Yes the Church is truly a
touching place <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A place of memory
and love : a place for forgiveness and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And how
appropriate to have for our thoughts and inspiration this morning a story of
touch and encounter in our gospel reading <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In this story, two
people come to Jesus with their needs. They are very different
people. Jairus is an important man. Mark 5v22 says ‘a synagogue
ruler’. He’s a man, he’s a ruler, he has a family, he’s religious and
very respectable in the community.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The woman is not
even named. Jesus calls her ‘Daughter’ in v34, which is even
better than telling us her name. But as the story begins she is an
unnamed and unclean woman. She has an unstoppable flow of blood which
made her perpetually, ceremonially unclean, untouchable even in her home for 12
long years. This woman is unnamed, unclean, sick and now in despair.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> So this
woman has had 12 years of great suffering. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">She is very
different to Jairus. Jairus, we can imagine, has had 12 years of joy with
his 12 year old daughter. But now with his daughter on death’s door,
Jairus and the women are driven by the same need to touch God. They are
both needy beggars coming to Jesus. Both take a journey to reach out and touch
the only one who can give them their hearts desire.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In verse 22 this
respectable man falls at Jesus’ feet in a public place and pleads earnestly
with Him. This was very dangerous for Jairus to do. We know from
chapter 3 verse 6 that the religious authorities have been plotting to kill
Jesus. So for this synagogue ruler to fall at Jesus’ feet could well have
cost him his job and his reputation. But what’s that compared to your 12
year old girl?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So Jairus and the
woman are very different, both come to Jesus in their need.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> And both of
them think they know <i>how</i> Jesus is going to help them. They both
have very particular expectations of Jesus – one's he will not meet but change!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jairus thinks
Jesus ought to come and lay hands on his sick daughter, he practically tells
Jesus what to do and expects him to act immediately. He probably does this
because Jesus had performed other healings where that’s what He did – He laid
hands on people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The woman also
thinks she knows how to get a healing. She thinks if she just touches
Jesus’ clothes she’ll be healed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But for both of
them Jesus frustrates their plans and responds in ways that they were not
expecting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For Jarius –It is
now too late, there was too much delay the girl is now dead. There is no point.
He has made the journey for nothing, he has risked everything only to fail – or
so it would seem when Jesus finally enters the house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For the nameless
woman she is not allowed to get away with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>anonymity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she desires, touching
Jesus means that she is now in a very public place, a central place within the
crowd in which she hoped to remain hidden, a skill she had no doubt developed
over the last 12 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jairus’s story is
our story. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Nameless
womans experience is ours<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Every one of us
either has had or will have moments like this in our Christian lives. We
have come to Jesus. We have real needs. We are sure we know the best
way He can help us. But Jesus doesn’t always <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>do what we’d thought would happen or planed to
occur.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we saw in the
calming of the storm last week – Jesus does not always act or react in a way
that we expect, or to a timetable we determine. We will go through storms and
Jesus won’t calm them right away. It will get to the point where we say
“I’m dying here and you don’t care do you?”. . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And as we see when
a women reaches out to touch Jesus and when He reaches out to touch a small
child something miraculous does occur – life is given, is strengthened, is
healed, is renewed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fr9_ML-K8Do/VY-n1f5EQyI/AAAAAAAABvU/3o8oCn7g_LY/s1600/10talitha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fr9_ML-K8Do/VY-n1f5EQyI/AAAAAAAABvU/3o8oCn7g_LY/s200/10talitha.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And at the end of
the story Jesus has saved both daughters. Everyone thought the bleeding woman
could wait while Jesus healed the dying girl. But no – Jesus <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>saved the woman with the flow of blood and
He’s saved the dying girl. He calls the one ‘daughter’, He calls the
other ‘Talitha’ – both terms of great affection. He does care, He is
powerful and He does know how to bring things to a happily ever after that far
outstrips anything we expected. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">So as we give thanks for those who first build and
dedicated St John's church to the glory of God, As we give thanks and work to preserve the vision and mission of those who went before us in every church, let us also continue to care for this
touching place and never limit the love and power of God by closing its doors
to those who would seek refuge </span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-10163450592874669582015-06-21T08:45:00.001+01:002015-06-21T08:45:05.105+01:00Jesus calms the stormy waters of life
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alone on a wide wide sea! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The stormy sea is a powerful
metaphor for all that threatens to destroy our stability and security. We don’t
know whether we can survive their turbulent waters and depths that can swallow
us whole. And we don’t know how long such storms will last. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Mark tells the story, the
disciples were terrified that the boat was going to break up and everyone would
die. But Jesus was asleep, on a cushion no less, Mark notes, adding to the
contrast between Jesus’ tranquility and the disciples’ panic, apparently
oblivious to their pending doom. They wake him and cry, "Teacher, don’t
you care if we drown?" (v. 38). Of course, Jesus quiets the storm with a
word, but then he chides the disciples: "Why are you so afraid? Do you
still have no faith?" (v. 40).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of the lessons in the story are
obvious. Jesus has power over the storms of life, experiences them alongside
us, loves us, saves us from them and wants us to trust him more than we do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But there is more for us to take
from this episode than the illustration of a simple truth that Jesus will
rescue us when we are in danger. Indeed this is the meaning we give to his
dying on the cross an action in which Jesus saves us from our sin!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the face of those who make the
allegation that God does not care, that we are alone in this universe and have
been left alone to make the best of things on our own, there is nothing in this
episode to suggest that Jesus is absent. He is with the disciples, it is his
silence that they struggle to understand. He is silent, apart from his content
snoring on a cushion, his silence is not the same as absence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The counterpoint of Jesus, who is
calm and asleep not least, and his disciples, who are frantic with fear, is one
that is all too familiar for us in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just like the disciples we too
wonder at those times in our lives when we find ourselves in the midst of a
storm, whether or not Jesus is there, whether or not he cares about out
struggles and fears. Indeed there are times when we like the disciples cry out
in fear and wonder why he seems so slow to come to our aid?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the truth that Mark in
recounting this episode of Jesus’ life might be pointing to is that Jesus is
not just in control at the end of the story when he bids the waves to cease and
the wind to be calm, Jesus is in control as he is present throughout the whole episode.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The criticism that Jesus has for his
disciples is that they doubted this, that they thought they were in peril when
in fact this cannot be the case because their Lord and master is right there
with them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The psalmist shares our concern,
that God does indeed seems asleep and uninterested in our plight:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rise up ! Why Sleep, O Lord <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Awake and do not reject us for ever <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">why do you hide your face and forget
our grief and oppression? Psalm 45: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>24-25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe that’s why Mark included this
story. The not-so-obvious lesson is that Jesus was just as much in control, and
the disciples were just as safe in his hands, while he was asleep as while he
was awake. Most of the time, life seems like a relentless voyage from one
storm to the next. Faith in God will not immunize us from the storms of life,
it is not a lucky charm that will keep us pain free and emotionally secure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The lesson to trust in God at all
times is brilliantly illustrated in the story of David and Goliath. Once again
it clear that in the midst of the crisis facing King Saul and all his soldiers
their faith in God wavers. Their fear paralyses them and they cannot respond to
the defiant challenge of Goliath. That is until David appears, David who knows
a thing or two about trust in God as he looks after his father’s sheep and when
necessary wrestles with lions to keep them safe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">David, true of heart confronts the
giant Goliath and proclaims his faith in the unseen God of Israel and brings
him down with a small smooth pebble from the brook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God is our refuge and strength<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a very present help in trouble<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">therefore we will not fear, thought
the earth be moved<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and though the mountains tremble in
the heart of the sea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">thought the waters rage and swell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and though the mountains quake at
the towering sea <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Psalm
46 :1-3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-38615652367845357412015-06-15T16:40:00.001+01:002015-06-15T16:40:31.872+01:00Living with parables - the mustard seed as a sign of the Kingdom of God
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus speaks to us in parable – he want us not to be passive listeners
or simply to follow rules and regulations slavishly, he wants us to use our
minds, ask questions, yes to dream dreams that will inspire our vision and by
so doing create a better and hope filled future for those who come after us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Parables are short stories that illustrate a particular religious or
moral idea, short tales that communicate universal truths. Parables are a kind
of extended metaphor, which is one way – and maybe the best way – of grasping
the amazing wonder that is God within the limits of human language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And today’s parable is about exactly that: the amazing wonder that is
God. Jesus refers to it as the “kingdom of God,” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It refers not to territory, as in the United Kingdom, but to dominion,
as in a semi-autonomous state that is under the sovereignty of another – namely
God. The kind of kingdom Jesus describes is a kingdom in which the members have
choice, the free will to make decisions about their lives, their involvement,
their direction, and their future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And the first choice we get to make is about which kingdom to call our
own. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of God, he is
talking about a kingdom inhabited by the righteous, and this kingdom is not the
only kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus acknowledge that there is more than one Kingdom, he acknowledges
that there is the Kingdom of Satan. In last weeks gospel reading, for instance,
he asks, “If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand?” The
kingdom of evil is real; it’s all around us all the time, and we are lured by
it and sometimes swayed by it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are faced with a choice, and it a choice that we make minute by
minute, hour by hour, day by day in the thoughts we hold, in the words we use
and ultimately in the actions we take. Do we choose the path of righteousness
that leads to the kingdom of God or do turn inwards and relying upon our own
resources treat the path that leads us to death and kingdom of Satan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we make a choice that puts our own selfish wishes over the real
needs of the community that surrounds us. When we make a choice that wreaks
violence on someone else – be it physical, emotional, or spiritual pain. When we
make a choice that belittles other people according to category – be it race,
or gender, or disability. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are not walking towards the kingdom of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the kingdom of God, we would put aside our own egotistical need to
have power over anyone else, and instead cultivate the qualities and gifts that
come from the Holy Spirit such as Love, compassion, understanding, and
cooperation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the kingdom of God, we would cease all violence, repenting of the
evil that enslaves us, and instead promote true dialogue, empathy, and
acceptance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the kingdom of God, we will bring an end to our own oppression of
others, and instead foster open-mindedness, willingness to encounter what is
new, and appreciation for difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is a hopeful vision of paradise, and Jesus offers this to us every
day – in his parables, in the sacraments, and in the spirit embodied in
everyone we meet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It seems so very clear. Kingdom of God: good. Kingdom of Satan: bad.
Choose the good and reject the bad. So why is it that so often we do not make
the right choice?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One reason – perhaps the biggest reason – is fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we are afraid of something, we sometimes choose what is safe over
what may seem challenging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we are afraid of what we know about some people, we sometimes
choose to disparage them rather than take the opportunity to make new
acquaintances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When we are afraid of what we do not know, we sometimes choose to avoid
the growth that comes only through learning something new, retreating instead
into a cocoon of ignorance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But according to Mark’s gospel, in the kingdom of God it is “as if
someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and
day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We do not know how the miracle that is God’s love works, how it grows,
or what makes it sprout. This lack of knowledge leaves some even with in the
church fear filled – fearful <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the
unknown, and so they choose to either avoiding confrontation, or ceaseing in
the intellectual struggle that is faith and the heart ache that comes with love,
in stead acquiescing to our darker thoughts, choosing what is safe over what is
right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But the choice is for us to respond in hopeful confidence, trusting that
God is doing more than we can ask or imagine – even when we cannot see, or
refuse to see, or do not comprehend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When faced with difficult choices we often end up saying “I’ll go with
my gut instincts” It may not always be possible to see the clear outcome of
analytical thought so we go back to our basic instincts, those that have ensure
the evolution and survival of the human race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But this gut instinct will not lead us to God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Think of those who have made the right choice in their lives. Think of
Jesus who choose his cross, this was not a gut instinct, that would have been
to run away, nor was it a calculated risk, the odds were stacked too high
against him, it was a choice of love and faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We heard this morning in Mark 4: “For the kingdom of God is like a
mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the
seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all
shrubs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What seems like a trivial matter, then, can become the pattern of a
lifetime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The smallest of seeds becomes the greatest of all shrubs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The tiniest of babes can become the greatest of human living.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And even the worst human can become the greatest of all examples of what
it is to choose to live in the kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Because that choice comes not once in a lifetime, not ever so rarely,
not only now and again. The choice to live in the kingdom of God comes to each
of us every hour of every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So let us walk by faith, not by sight, with confidence. For the love of
Christ urges us on. Everything old has passed away, and in Christ there is a
new creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That new creation is us. And it is up to us to make the choice for the
kingdom of God.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-81048766703039949532015-06-07T08:21:00.000+01:002015-06-07T13:38:45.028+01:00A family under God<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The place and role of the family is never far from headlines. Pope
Francis has at the beginning of this ministry as Pope sent tremors through the
world wide Roman Catholic community in the way in which he chooses not just to
live, simply, but also last year when </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">he <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catholic bishops gathered in
Rome to listen hard to the “beat of this age” as he opened a landmark assembly
that many hope will spark reform of some of the Roman Catholic church’s stances
on marriage, sex and divorce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vBxlJCMF9OA/VXPwfISokBI/AAAAAAAABu8/RQNws6lU-j4/s640/blogger-image-1649913948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vBxlJCMF9OA/VXPwfISokBI/AAAAAAAABu8/RQNws6lU-j4/s320/blogger-image-1649913948.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congratulations to Egzon and Christina married at St John </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">With the
change to the definition of marriage in this country last year <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">to include
same sex union, there is much debate on not just the place and role of marriage
but sexuality and the impact on our understanding of family. Some see these
moves as eroding the family and contributing to the further disintegration of
society where as others take a more hope- filled view that new understanding of
marriage and sexuality will enhance and strength the institution of the family.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">It
interesting that when it comes to the pages of the bible the image of family is
not a “Hello” or “OK” airbrushed version but a more realistic and dare I say
dysfunctional description of family life. From Cain and Able the children of
Adam and Eve to Noah and his sons, Isaac and Esau, Samuel, Moses and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David; family life is not without its
tensions and even violence. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Consider Jesus' family, for example. His birth is surrounded with
scandal as Mary finds herself with child but unmarried. St John in his gospel
uses language that suggested that Jesus' relationship with his mother was
rather strained, Jesus is only recorded as referring to his mother as “Woman”
and at the wedding of Cana in Galilee he seems to be rather abrupt with his
mother. Similar tensions appear to have existed between him and his siblings,
as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And then we have the occasion referred to in our Gospel this morning,
Mark 3.21 which says: </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">"21When his family heard it, they went out to
restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind”.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This episode in Marks account of Jesus’ life is set in a wider context
that runs through out the gospels, namely that people around Jesus find it hard
to understand who he really is. Jesus does not fit in with the expectations or
traditions held dear by those around him. His own family assume he has lost his
sanity and the religious authorities see him as an evil and dangerous force who
will destroy their power and the traditions handed down since the time of Moses
concluding that he must be possessed by Satan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The scene underscores how those who presumably they were in the position
to understand Jesus were not immediately able to see him as God's agent. As
Jesus announced and re-inaugurated God's intentions for human flourishing, many
could not overcome the disorienting character of his message. Even close
relatives and religious insiders were bewildered by what he said, which
threatened to disrupt so many aspects of human society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Maybe Jesus' relatives were dismayed that the first-born son wasn't
supporting his family but was gallivanting around Galilee as a self-appointed
prophet. Or maybe they wanted him, as Messiah, to have bigger and better
ambitions, such as promising a revolution instead of preaching and healing the
sick. The Gospel of Mark does not explain; it merely sets up a showdown of
sorts when the family arrives to seize Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When the crowd says that his family is summoning him from outside the crowded
building, Jesus answers with a shocking statement: "Who is my mother? Who
are my brothers? ... Look, here [these people seated around me] are my mother
and my brothers. Whoever does God's will is my brother, sister and
mother."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It's good news for those inside the house, who seek to identify with
Jesus and his message. Its good news for the disciples who have left their
families and their homes (Mark 10.28-30) and its good news for Christians from
the earliest time to our own day who face persecution from their families when
they embrace Jesus as their Lord, especially those who convert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is bad news, however, for his relatives on the outside of the house
who seek to impede his mission and ministry to the poor, sick and dispossessed
and for others who have dedicated their lives to preserving the traditions and
customs of the past in order to sure up their own position of power and provide
social stability<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus redefines Family. Jesus redefines the criteria for who constitutes
his true family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This goes beyond striking back at his mother and brothers' opinion about
his sanity. More foundationally, Jesus makes a claim about what it might mean
to belong to the community he is creating, the Kingdom of God<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and later the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He makes a claim about identity. Families, or "households,"
were the primary social and economic units of first-century society as much as
they are in our modern urban societies. Jesus speaks to deeply embedded
cultural assumptions when he defines his true family not by blood relations or
kinship ties but by doing the will of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For Jesus, family -- at least, one type of family -- is a community of
people joined as an expression of their commitment to discover and manifest
God's will. It would appear that Jesus is allowing for a new understanding of
family, one defined by those who promote God's will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As many in our day are urging society, and yes the church too, to
redefine our understanding of family I wonder if we will find ourselves on the
outside of the house as Jesus’ family or on the inside with his disciples?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Obviously, Christians have not found consensus on these topics, as
discussions of sexuality and marriage have polarized many communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus did not abolish the idea of family or household. It goes too far
to suggest he <i>overthrew</i> his culture's values about family, society and
religion -- in this passage or any other. But he does consistently unsettle and
sometimes redefines those values.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When Jesus teaches, heals and makes pronouncements, everything gets put
up for renegotiation. Old values aren't necessarily flawed, simply by virtue of
their being old or established. But God's presence in the world, manifested
through Jesus' words and actions, repeatedly turns on their head the
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus’ actions and words upset those around him as much as they are
upsetting our world today. Jesus creates a reversal of priority, not to change
for change's sake, but so we might reconsider just how<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our living <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>can be authentic manifestations of who God is
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<br />Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-6643582998265027022015-05-30T10:55:00.000+01:002015-05-31T19:20:29.168+01:00The Holy and blessed Trinity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">The Prophet Isaiah finds himself in the awesome presence of God and he can only fall to his knees admitting his unworthiness, but God is not content to leave him there - God touches him, via an angel, and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">in response Isaiah declares “Here I am send me” Isaiah 6.1-8</span><br>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">For me the passage is about majesty, the majesty of God, and service- the service of the prophet- and so it is speaks to us about our discipleship yours and mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see Isaiah with all his faults, in the midst of feelings of unworthiness, on his knees in his shame and guilt over come with feelings of loss and abandonment but then, by the Grace of God, he like us must respond to the question that God asks each one of us – Whom shall I send? by answering “Hear I am send me”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the last month, as part of the 75<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of VE day, there has been a great deal of remembering of those who in their generation responded to the call “Whom shall I send” when it came to these islands own moment of peril in the 20<sup>th</sup> Century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">On Saturday with the anniversary of D Day, we will remember again those who responded to the call “Whom shall I send” by setting out in their dinghies , their sailing ships, indeed an armada of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>700 “little ships” to pick up the stranded troops of the British ensuring that they would serve another day in freeing the world of the evil of Nazi Germany.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">I the Lord of sea and sky<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">I have heard my people cry…….whom shall I send?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Here I am lord, it is I lord, I will go Lord if you lead me…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">( Servant king Dan Shuttle) </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">In an another popular modern hymn called the Servant King written by Graham Kendrick the chorus rings out " This is our God the Servant King, he calls us now to follow him..... "The Servant King" is our understanding of God that we have to share as distinctive to others who believe in God and distinctive within a world were many strive to be gods and servants are treated with contempt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Today as we remember and celebrate our understanding of God as Father Son and Holy Spirit, , we remember that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not a heavenly Tyrant – a distant individual, ruling in splendid isolation but God who has come among us as one of us to bear our burden and bring us peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This is at the heart of what Jesus tells Nicodemus in the darkness of his night in our gospel:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">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. 17Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’ V16-17<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The doctrine of the Trinity takes us to the opening pages of the Bible, deep into the time before time and we see that before there was anything to rule, the Father, Son and Spirit existed and they existed in relationship with one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Their life is a life of caring, sharing, give and take, back and forth. Before God’s life was a life of majesty <i>over </i>the creation, God’s life was a life of service <i>among</i> the Persons. The Father pours His love and life into the Son in the power of the Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The Son offers up His love and life in the power of the Spirit. The very essence of God’s Majesty is service. God’s life is a life of mutual self-<i>giving</i>.</span></div></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">The servant-heart of God is a glimpse of something holy. Because of Trinity: Majesty and service belong together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Now imagine if this were not the case. Imagine if God were just a solitary individual. Think of him there “in the beginning”, with no-one and nothing besides him, just his own thoughts for company. Such a god could not be a god of service. There’s no-one and nothing for this god to serve. There’s no caring or sharing. This god would be defined by supremacy, by power, by pre-existence but not by love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">But not with Trinity. With Trinity: service is supreme. With Trinity: self-<i>giving</i> is ultimate reality. With Trinity: God is love, the love that exists between the three persons of the God head – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It if from this relationship of love that creation is created for the Trinity exists as a dynamo creating the power of love that is found woven in to the very fabric of creation and our own existence as his children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">And this love, indeed any love cannot be kept to itself. In the beginning of Johns gospel we see that the God of love wanted to share. John writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Through the Word all things were made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">This is where we’ve come from. <i>From</i> the overflowing life of the Father, through the Word – the Lord Jesus – in the power of the Spirit, the world was born. It was as if the Father, Son and Spirit had said “This thing is too good to keep to ourselves.” And so a world is made, that we might share in their love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">And so here we find the meaning of life – in the Trinity – in relationship and love of God and one another. God the Holy Trinity make you strong in truth and peace, guard you and save you and bring you to that heavenly city where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. AMEN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-56862143639395226532015-05-23T14:06:00.004+01:002015-05-23T14:06:32.149+01:00Unless the eye catch fire - Feast of Pentecost
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L8OZEyLdXvY/VWB5yxYkqjI/AAAAAAAABuI/DL1hj53m_TQ/s1600/CELPentecost1-1024x492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L8OZEyLdXvY/VWB5yxYkqjI/AAAAAAAABuI/DL1hj53m_TQ/s400/CELPentecost1-1024x492.jpg" width="400" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Unless the eye catch fire, <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>The God will not be seen. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Unless the ear catch fire <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>The God will not be heard. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Unless the tongue catch fire <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>The God will not be named. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Unless the heart catch fire, <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>The God will not be loved. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>Unless the mind catch fire, <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><i>The God will not be known. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><b>William Blake</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Central to our relationship with God, is the desire to catch something of that
flame of life, the Spirit itself. This is what we are here to catch with ear
and tongue with our hearts and minds this morning in our Pentecost celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the first Pentecost the Spirit descended in tongues of fire.
Elsewhere the Spirit is described as a dove, a breath or wind. Each description
catches a particular sense of that Spirit of God which underlies everything
and, what St Paul speaks of as awaiting its birth in the lives and actions of
humanity – <i>the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains</i> writes St Paul,
ready for the moment when the fruits of that Spirit can be set to work. Romans
8.22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is the Spirit deep within the heart of humanity made in God’s image,
which enables us to pray and to engage with God himself. And, as we have been
reminded time and again in the letters of St John red in these last weeks of
Easter, God is love and through his spirit we are able to encounter, engage and
live in that Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At times the Holy Spirit is like a fire, like love that is a burning
passion enflaming us with a sense of God’s loving presence, a fire that
purifies us from the death of self love and selfishness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At times it is like a wind that blows where it will – we know its power
and presence even though it cannot be seen. Like the winds that blow across the
Sahara molding and giving form to the landscape of blown particles of sand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At times it is just like breath, a thing so small, faint natural and
almost unnoticed – yet essential for life. Like a softly spoken word “I love
you” that can change our reality for ever .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At times we picture it as a dove – a sign of hope and promise landing in
our midst as it did in the story of Noah when the dove brought a leaf in its
beak showing the flood was ended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today we celebrate the gift of that Spirit of God, promised by the Risen
and Ascended Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But we should not see the Spirit just as an extra boost, something we
call upon to help us do what we want. It is rather the very presence of God
deep within his creation and therefore deep within our communities and indeed
deep within each one of us. The invitation of Pentecost is to open ourselves to
that presence and embrace his presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet if we do this, let us be aware of what it is we are letting
ourselves in for. This is a Spirit that will not just support our ambitions for
the Church or for our world or for ourselves. This is the Spirit of God which
will lead us in his ways, to fulfill his will for his church, his world and us
his people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In his book, A World to Love,
author George Knowles tells about a party of explorers who found themselves perplexed
by something they found in a remote <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>African
jungle. In a clearing, they discovered 35 carefully laid fires that had never <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been lit. They had the appearance of 35 little
tepees, with dry leaves surrounded by small, dry twigs and, finally, larger pieces
of wood arranged in a good Boy Scout <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fashion.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Who built the fires? Why had
not even one been lit? The mystery cleared up <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when the explorers saw dozens of chimpanzees
watching from the trees. The <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chimps had
watched campers and copied the art of fire building. But they had no fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Many people say the same kind
of thing is true of the Church today. We <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">have been trained in fire building,
but we have no fire. If we are going to reach people today with the Christian
message, faith must involve the head and the heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The gift of the Spirit bequeathed to us by the Risen and Ascended Christ
offers us not just extra support, but leads to a radical change. We are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>placing ourselves in the hands of the one who
created us, and who invites us to choose to live our lives in his way rather
than ours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But this Spirit cannot be controlled, it shapes changes and defines us -
not the other way round. We are the clay not the potter to borrow an image from
the Prophets of Old. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The feast of Pentecost is an invitation to live in God’s grace. It is
something we wrestle with every day, abandoning ourselves to God, following the
path that he has for us. But a stronger passion for control, especially when we
loose faith or allow our selfish desire to dominate our choices, works against
this invitation to live by God’s grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Part of the story of that first Pentecost is the gathering of
nationalities Parthians, Medes, Elamites, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">residents
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first disciples speaking of God’s love in Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They were surprised that each heard in their own language – but what
they heard was human speech, human imagination set on fire, inspired by that
Spirit of God <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and they were united in
responding to God’s love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We are called as followers of Christ to allow the love of Christ to
become real in the lives of this broken world. It is to enable those imprisoned
by violence, oppression, need or greed, to find that Spirit of God’s love deep
within themselves bringing freedom from their captivity. It is to enable
those who are blinded by their power, their success and their comfort in this
world, to have their eyes open to the needs of all around, to change and be
changed, to live differently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is to find the Spirit of the living God breathing new life into the
dry bones of our society and our world, that all may have life, and have it
abundantly; life that is both here and now, and lasts into eternity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So we must catch the fire of the Spirit to live each day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen. Unless the ear
catch fire God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire God will
not be named. Unless the heart catch fire, God will not be loved. Unless
the mind catch fire, God will not be known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">May this Pentecost enflame our eyes, ears, tongues,
hearts and minds, that God and his love may be seen and heard, named and loved,
and known by all his children in every part of his world.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-79047710196518056272015-05-16T12:20:00.002+01:002015-05-16T12:20:42.466+01:00St Matthias our Patron - 14th May
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXrO3HhI_uI/VVclYRWcpsI/AAAAAAAABt0/QLL0lkH4MDI/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXrO3HhI_uI/VVclYRWcpsI/AAAAAAAABt0/QLL0lkH4MDI/s1600/images-1.jpeg" /></a><span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
Almost nothing is known of St Matthias. Perhaps he is most important
because his election as an apostle shows the way the that Church would continue
to choose its pastors and guides, by bringing forward members as the Spirit
led.<br />
<br />
Our Patron Saint’s name is the Greek form of Mattathias, Hebrew Mattithiah,
signifying "gift of Yahweh." The late mediaeval </span><em><span style="color: #211104; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Golden Legend</span></em><span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"> says “Matthias in Hebrew is as much to say as given to our
Lord, or a gift of our Lord, or else humble or little.” St Matthias is
certainly humble in terms of personal fame! He is not mentioned in the Gospels,
but according to </span><em><span style="color: #211104; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Acts</span></em><span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"> 1.21 was one of the disciples of Jesus,
and had been with Him from His baptism by John to the Ascension. Indeed the
lack of definite information has led some people to identify him with this or
that little-known figure, including Nathaniel, Barnabas, and even Zacchaeus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
St Matthias is only mentioned in the New Testament in </span><em><span style="color: #211104; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Acts</span></em><span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">
1.21-26, when he was one of the two disciples selected as candidates to fill
the place among the Twelve Apostles left by Judas. After prayer lots were cast
and Matthias was chosen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br />
Where the canonical sources fail us, legends and church traditions more than make up for. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #211104; font-size: 19px;">A number of sources tell
of him preaching the gospel to the "cannibals of Ethiopia"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">A different
tradition was that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded with an
axe. This tradition gained the most popularity in the Western Church. There we
learn that Matthias was a native of Bethlehem, where he was trained in the Law
and the Prophets. After he had been elected to join the apostles, he preached
in Jerusalem and worked miracles of healing in the name of Jesus. For this he
was accused before the high priest but refused to answer, saying, “to be a
Christian is nothing criminal but it is a glorious life”. Offered a chance to
repent, Matthias said “God forbid that I should repent of the truth that I have
truly found, and become an apostate” (was he perhaps thinking of Judas whom he
had replaced?). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">He returned to
preaching by word and example, converting many, until finally his enemies got
two false witnesses to accuse him, and the false witnesses cast the first
stones against him. Matthias “prayed that the stones might be buried that the
false witnesses had cast upon him, for to bear witness against them that stoned
him,” and in the end they beheaded him with an axe, in the Roman manner. He died
commending his spirit to God.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">Finally we
should note a tradition that St Matthias died of old age. Hippolytus of Rome
(d. 235) said that “Matthias, who was one of the seventy, was numbered along
with the eleven apostles, and preached in Jerusalem, and fell asleep and was
buried there.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">These stories
have no historical value, although the words “to be a Christian is nothing
criminal but it is a glorious life” are well worth remembering. It is very
likely that he never went to the country we call Ethiopia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #211104; font-size: 19px;">The concern of
the Apostles to complete the number is interesting; for the institution of
Twelve Apostles was not maintained in the Church. There is no account of a
further election when St James the brother of John was executed (Acts 12:2). So maybe Matthias is unique in this regard and that is why has had captured the imagination of many throughout the ages.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">The choice between Barsabbas and Matthias was made by casting lots, not
ballots: voting by ballot was not a Jewish custom; the method of discerning the
Lord’s will in the Old Testament was by lot. Moreover a ballot would not harmonize
with their prayer “show which of these two thou hast chosen”. What they did was
to give each candidate a tablet, bearing his name, to place in the urn; and
that which fell out, on the urn being shaken, determined which was successful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is the only
known occasion on which the early Church used lots to ascertain God’s will; it
is not stated by what method of choice was used when the Twelve told the
brethren to “pick out from among you” the seven to assist in the service(Acts 6.3-5).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #211104; font-size: 19px;">So what do we
take away from the recounting of some interesting if not rather unreliable
traditions concerning St Matthias our patron?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">I would suggest
two things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">firstly his
name: the meaning of Matthias name is<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b><i>“given to our
Lord, or a gift of our Lord, or else humble or little.”<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">We are certainty
little in number here this morning and I would hope that even though we are small
our contribution to the life of the community through our hall and in this church
where over the years people come to mourn their loved ones, celebrate new life
granted to them and their families and of course to celebrate the love that
binds two people together in marriage is of greater significance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let me
encourage you this morning to think of yourselves as given our Lord and as such
a gift for the world we are called to serve and in which we witness to that
Lord who calls us as he called our Patron Matthias and join with him in the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">“<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this ministry and apostleship”</i></b> of the
church which is ours to share in through our baptism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">We do this at a time in the
world where it is Christians who are the most persecuted of all the faith
communities in the world. Every 11 minutes a man or a woman or a child is put
to death simply for being that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“gift of our Lord” </i><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #030000; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;">The second are the words attributed to him at his martyrdom: Matthias is </span><span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;">recorded in saying that <b><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“to be a Christian is nothing criminal but it
is a glorious life”</i></b>. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in faith who are
treated as criminal, for our brothers and sisters who like our Patron Matthias
have left this life to enter their glory by the violent had of another, and let
us pray that God will spare us and indeed all his Church from such a fate but that should we ever be faced with such choices that others have to make every day let us take heart from our Patron's own words when face with such a choice:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #211104; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b><i>“God forbid that I should repent of the truth that I have truly found, and become an apostate” </i></b></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-32346809614212410212015-05-10T08:35:00.000+01:002015-05-10T08:35:32.891+01:00I call you friends <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x49825V6z7M/VU8JhKbPy1I/AAAAAAAABs8/GnRC-jB_26E/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x49825V6z7M/VU8JhKbPy1I/AAAAAAAABs8/GnRC-jB_26E/s1600/images.jpeg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wonder what you can remember of the excitement or maybe
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making a demand on your life?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wonder if you are at a stage in your life right now
when you are looking ahead and realizing that your relationship with Jesus
Christ is taking you in to new and uncharted waters, that maybe Jesus is
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you would rather not have to deal with?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In our Gospel reading taken from what are called
Jesus’ “farewell discourses” in John, we hear Jesus speak of “friendship” as
the new relationship he has created with his followers. The Greek word he uses
here for friend is <i>philos</i>, meaning someone who loves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I do not call you servants any longer,
because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called
you friends,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">because I have made known to you
everything that I have heard from my Father.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And so God’s friendship also has something to do with
transparency, authenticity, what we might call plain, direct speech as opposed
to flattery or holding back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A way to think about this is that Jesus is God’s
“plain speech to us,” the Word coming to us in our own language, in fact in our
own flesh, the Word revealing to us and uniting us to the heart of God’s very
self.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we continue to celebrate Easter, marking that
celebration with the renewal of our baptismal vows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we reflect on what our calling and vocation as
Christians in this world might mean in every day language, what it might call
us to do with our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we work together as the body of Christ in these
communities of Hendon and Colindale showing forth not just in our words and
prayers but by our actions too the love of Christ that we find to be true at the
heart of our lives….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I want to remind you that all of us are the enactment
of God’s outpouring of life and God’s transparent, authentic and direct speech,
that has <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>already come to us in Christ
Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we think of Vocation, when we look back on the
lives of some of the saints or those whose lives inspire us I guess it is a
truth that for them their calling, their vocation is at one and the same time
like the kiss of a lover that entices and woes us and like the bite of wild
animal that draws blood and caused pain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On Thursday we recalled those whose calling was to
stand against an evil in this world that took life, crushed freedom and threatened
the future that has been our lives. We gave thanks for Victory day in Europe on
a day that we also when to the polls as a nation to cast our vote. We were able
to stand together as a nation at the voting booth on Thursday; because of those
who stood together in the face of evil, who gave their blood, who embrace pain and
because they cherished life answered the call to give their lives for that
love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we hear the words of our gospel this morning we
see a clear understanding in the mind of John the author of the gospel of the
extremes that can be a mark of our calling as friends of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first of these is extreme, for it’s the idea that
a friend is one who would be willing to give their life for their friend. Put
another way, if I am friend to you, your welfare, your hopes and dreams, your
very life is so important to me that I am willing for my blood, both the symbol
of and reality of my life, to be shed for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But in Jesus, of course, the idea of befriending
becomes the enactment of befriending. For Jesus doesn’t just talk about
things—he is them; he does them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
thought about this last week with the notion of love, God is love and love is
from God. And so the very pattern of Jesus’ life enacts this idea. Jesus lays
down his life for his friends and in doing so, shows his disciples and you and
me what loving and befriending another will mean: the freely given outpouring of
life for the sake of the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the Gospel of John doesn’t stop there. For right
along with this notion of friendship and sacrifice comes a second one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KXqEKAto_I/VU8JjelfCgI/AAAAAAAABtE/Rekz9rIxO9k/s1600/john.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KXqEKAto_I/VU8JjelfCgI/AAAAAAAABtE/Rekz9rIxO9k/s1600/john.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">v 15 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I do not
call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master
is doing; I have called you friends, because I have made known to you
everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I
chose you.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus is Lord yes but in this new understanding and
relationship that is created by his love we become friends with our Lord, no
longer do I call you servants but friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Notice the distinction
Jesus drew between being a servant and being a friend. It’s not the privilege
of the servant to understand his master’s business. It’s just for him to do
what he’s told. No questions. No reasons. Just “Very good, sir. If you say so,
sir.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To make it plain that he did not want such blind
obedience, Jesus reminded the disciples that he had told them all he could
about his Father’s business. This would make it possible for them to give him
what he really wanted—the free cooperation of understanding friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bible does give us examples of those who at the
same time as being leaders and examples for us are also called God’s friends<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abraham, Moses and
even Job is finally called a friend of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once again it is here that we see a new pattern of
vocation, of calling in Christ. blind obedience to a law, loyalty to the God
who like a Judge will be merciless in pronouncing judgment when we betray that
loyalty<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">are no longer adequate, sufficient or comprehensive in
the light of God’s revelation through Jesus Christ.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So today we do not just remember the past: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The times when we have responded to the call of Christ
in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The times when faced with a decision we have sought
direction for our lives from Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The times when we have felt the support and
encouragement of our friends in Christ that have meant we have kept on going in
the face of obstacles and setback, disappointments and regrets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today is about deciding whether or not we will say
“yes” to the continuing life of Christ that is within us. The life of Christ that
calls us into a friendship that will change our way of being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today is about deciding
whether we will say “yes” to the continuing life and vocation that is ours in
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A yes which can be relied upon
to ask us to pour out our lives for the sake of the Church and the world at a
time when we face so many dangers and troubles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-78404417183577504122015-05-07T08:20:00.001+01:002015-05-07T08:20:19.049+01:00V. E Day 70th Anniversary remembered.Giving thanks for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the face of an evil that threatened all of us<br />
we remember the suffering and the joy of this day 70years ago.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b>The Blitz In Ealing</b></span></div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From the collection: Nine Lessons from the Dark by Adam Thorpe</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You crouched under the table as the ceiling </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rained down flour and the lights went out. Upstairs </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whole chunks played the devil with the bed </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Still warm from your dreams </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the clues of hands and haunch and head.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But you weren’t there, crushed </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Beneath the latticework of laths, </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though the air’s arch concussed you into dark </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To bring you round to such amazing quiet </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You were sure you were in Heaven, a graceful park</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Coasting to a cry, which was yours, and then </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The familiar kitchen was crawling out of dust </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Into time you weren’t, after all, denied... </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The All Clear siren and the shrills of bells </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the neighbours unhooked from the brick slide</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That was next door’s up to minutes ago </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Groaning on the sofa, bleeding in the hall - </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And you knew now where you were, you said </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(standing in the street by your own front door) </span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the fiery light dancing on the stockinged dead.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">70 years ago this nation stood together to end a titanic struggle again Nazi Germany, a struggle that involved every citizen from these united kingdoms. For many there was joy and jubilation for many more there was a more sober and stunned response as they recalled all that had been lost and sacrificed in the struggle against an evil that strove to deny life and all that we value as a modern democratic society</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;">Today the nation stands outside polling booths to cast their vote for those who will make choices that will affect all of us. We are able to enter the polling booths because of the sacrifice of those who have gone before us. We are able to have a say in who we believe should govern us, it is a gift as well as a right. let us use it well.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font: 11.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<br /></div>
Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3999411070465058853.post-13898174578648089552015-05-03T08:40:00.000+01:002015-05-03T08:40:44.826+01:00“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 1 john 4.7<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">There is a lot said about love. In deed as
Christians we have a lot to say about Love: think how many time the word
appears in our sermons, our prayers, our hymns, in our Bible readings. In these
Sundays of Easter we have been reading from the epistles of John which have one
theme running throughout and it is Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Let us look in a little more detail at the
words John writes in the 4<sup>th</sup> chapter of his first letter, epistle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">In the two verses preceding our second
reading this morning we see John touch on two important aspects of love. In
verse 6, he writes, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And this is love,
that we walk according to his commandments.</i>” Christian love is most full
understood as Love for God and in this verse he points to an important aspect
of Christian love, that is first and foremost obedience to God. Love is not
passive, not primarily an emotion we feel, love is something we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> – obey God. Of course, when John says
this, he is reminding us of the teachings of Jesus about love for the Lord our
God being the greatest commandment. If we love God, we will obey him and the
depth of our obedience is the mark by which we know our love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">In verse 5, John simply writes, “Love one
another”, which echoes Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:8, “He who loves his
neighbour has fulfilled the law”. “Love one another” – it is such a simple
command… Christian love means to love others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">There is a lovely story told about John the
apostle who was the only disciple to live into old age. As the Bishop of
Ephesus, he lived a long time and had an active ministry to the day he died.
But shortly before he died, he grew so frail that he had to be carried
everywhere and he had little breath to preach for long. And time and time
again, he would preach the same sermon; a sermon that was only 5 words long: “Little
children, love one another”. Five small words that, for John, encapsulated the
Christian message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Loving God and loving others – two practical
out workings of the Christian faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Turning to our reading </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">verses 7-8: John tells us that God’s nature is love. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not
know God, because God is love</i>.” Notice it says two things. Verse 7 says
that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love is from God.”</i> And verse 8
at the end says, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God is love.</i>” These
are not at odds. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">Because when John says that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love is from God</i>,” he doesn’t mean it’s
from him the way letters are from a mailman, or even letters are from a friend.
He means that love is from God the way heat is from fire, or the way light is
from the sun. Love belongs to God’s nature. It’s woven into what he is. It’s
part of what it means to be God. The sun gives light because it is light. And
fire gives heat because it is heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">So John’s point is that for we who live in
Christ, we who renewed our baptism at Easter a month ago are acknowledging that
we are part the divine life of God and that an essential part of that life is
love. God’s nature is love, and in the new birth that comes with our baptism
God’s nature becomes part of who we <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">When we look at verse 12 of our second reading
we read “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us and
his love is perfected in us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">In these words John is assuring us that the love
we have when we are born again through our baptism is no mere imitation of the
divine love, no it is an experience of the divine love and it is the divine
love that we pass on when we fulfill the commandment of our lord – that is to
love God and love our neighbour. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">So the first way John links God’s love for us
and our love for people is by focusing on God’s nature as love and how when we
are made one with Christ, when we are born again, when we are baptized we are
connected to that divine nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">John then goes on to speak of how the love of God is manifested in history<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">Verse 10 we read “In
this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be
the atoning sacrifice for our sins. <sup>11</sup>Beloved, since God loved us so
much, we also ought to love one another. <sup>12</sup>No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">It is in Love, from
love, because of love, that God could no longer stand by but chose to become
part of the created order he has brought in to being through the word by the
power of he Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">When we see that All
powerful, All knowing, Creator, Glorious but distant God moved by Love to
become part of our lives we see how and why we also get involved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">Once again the people
of this island have shown their deep desire to get involved in the life of
others who are in need in the amazing giving of £15 million to the suffering in
Nepal. But as impressive as this is it is does not really capture the meaning John
is conveying when he speaks about the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and
our response.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">Salvation history is
filled with examples of those who have been sent, as a donation is sent, to
guide, direct and even plead with humanity to love one another. In deed it is
the revelation of Christianity that shows that such an approach is inadequate,
Mohammad might well be the last of the prophets and peace be upon him, but
prophets beginning with Adam are only like a donation sent across the world.
The revelation of Christianity is that God himself travels across the vastness
of time, across the void that separated our world from his and shows us love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: text1;">John tells us in
verse 11 “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beloved since God loves us so
much we also ought to love one another</i>” </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">when he says, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We ought to love each other</i>,” he means
ought in the way fish ought to swim in water and birds ought to fly in the air
and living creatures ought to breathe and peaches ought to be sweet and lemons
ought to be sour. As baptized people, we are born again and ought to love. It’s
who we are. This is not mere imitation. For the children of God, imitation
becomes realization. We are realizing who we are when we love. God’s Spirit is
in us. God’s nature is in us. God’s love is being perfected in us. so that when
people see us they see God, when people experience love they are experiencing
the reality of God <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">Why can’t we give love that
one more chance?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">Why can’t we give love……<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">Cause Love’s such an old
fashioned word<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">and Love dare you to care<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">for the people on the edge of
the night<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">and love dares you to change
our way<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;">of caring about ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span>Under
Pressure by David Bowie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17152038100911692974noreply@blogger.com0