Pentecost 23 C: Luke 18: 9-14
One of my favourite films of all time is Chocolat. Set in a French village, just after the Second World War, the film centres around the character of Vianne, a woman who, with her daughter wanders the world following the north wind.
In sharp contrast to Vianne, is the mayor of the town - the Compte de Raynauld, a very proper religious man, who controls the village – ensuring that everyone maintains the proper decorum and religious observances.
Vianne and her daughter arrive in the Compte’s village at the start of Lent and set up a chocolaterie – offering warmth, love and hospitality to all who enter her shop.
Vianne’s customers include several characters who represent the broken and the suffering people of the town:
Josephine who is abused by her husband,
Armande, the grandmother, played by Judi Dench who has lost her relationship with her daughter and grandson and feels that her life now has no meaning.
The righteous townsfolk are caught in a bind: should they follow the proper religious observance, living by the rules of a godly life as upheld by the Compte de Reynauld, or ought they embrace the warmth, love and acceptance being offered to all by Vianne. We are invited, along with the townsfolk, to consider what it is that leads to a rich and fulfilling life. Ought we live like the Compte de Reynauld, or like Vianne?
I share this, because I think there are some interesting comparisons we could make between the film Chocolat and the parable that we’ve heard this morning.
In the parable, two men walk into a Synagogue to pray. A Pharisee, an upright leader of the Jewish religious elite and a tax collector, signifying the lowest, the most undesirable type in society. Both men begin to pray. The Pharisee walks to the front of the temple – you can imagine him addressing God in a loud, self-important voice saying: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’
In contrast, the tax collector stands up the back of the temple, trying to fit in with the brickwork. He would not even look up to heaven, but instead was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
The Pharisee and the sinner in this parable are both extreme examples of human nature – they’re polar opposites. While I’m sure we can both identify people we’ve known who are like either one of them, or indeed we recognise them within ourselves from time to time, these characters are meant to illustrate the extremes of the human responses that are made to God.
The Pharisee has got it all together. He’s what we would call self-righteous. Notice that his own sense of self is predicated on how much better he is than ‘other people.’
Instead of grappling with our own identity or looking at ourselves, we too can focus on what makes us better than others. Such a stance means that to respect ourselves, we need to run others down. And, like the Pharisee, we sometimes like to tell God how much better we are than the sinners, trying to impress God with our religious CV’s: “I attend church meetings twice a week, volunteer at the local nursing home, give money to charity.” Or whatever. In short, like the Pharisee sees himself, sometimes we act as though we are so sure of ourselves that we have no need of God whatsoever.
The tax collector, in contrast is well aware of his shortcomings. He approaches God in all humility: “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” In doing so, the tax collector makes his reliance on God is clear. Because he knows he cannot enter into a relationship with God on his own account, the tax collector instead places himself at God’s mercy.
It’s important to pause for a minute to say something about sin. Sin is not about the ‘ bad things we do’ – likewise confession is not about listing these things so that we can have them struck off our list. Sin, in its most universal sense is simply the things, which separate us from God. We human beings are by our very nature are broken, sinful people. Sin, simply put, is the things we must put down, or let go of in order to return to right relationship with God.
We none of us – the Pharisee, the Compte de Reynauld from Chocolat, nor you nor me can ever ‘do enough’ to make ourselves right with God. It is in fact pointless to even try. Confessing our sin as the tax collector does then, is to accept the fact that the only way to enter into a relationship with God is on God’s terms: by accepting God’s gift of grace as it is offered to each of us – knowing that none of us is worthy of the gift in our own right.
This gift of grace, of hospitality to the outsider – to the broken and forsaken sinner, is most clearly visible in Luke’s account of Christ’s death on the cross. In Luke’s version of the crucifixion, Jesus is caught up in a conversation with the two criminals who are being crucified with him, one on either side. There is no question of the guilt of these men: they both deserve the punishment they receiving unlike Jesus. One of them joined in mocking Jesus saying: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, reminding him that while they both deserved their punishment, this man, Jesus had “done nothing wrong.” He then asks Jesus to: “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus’ response to the criminal is the most powerful example of the inclusivity of Christ’s offer of hospitality for all. Despite the fact that the man apparently had earned his execution as a criminal, Christ turns to him and offers him salvation saying: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” The invitation to enter the Kingdom of God is available to all who turn to Jesus, admitting that they cannot make it in their own strength, but only by his grace.
Today’s parable is not just about how we ought to respond to God, but also about the way we should treat one another. We are called to love God, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Not only do we need to love God and respond to him in the way the tax collector does, but we also need to treat those around us with love and respect. These two concepts are so tightly intertwined that they cannot be torn apart.
For Jesus, bolstering one’s sense of identity by disparaging others (even when they are terrible sinners) easily leads to illusions of grandeur and a failure to see ourselves as we really are. It is a kind of “goodies verses baddies” game. The answer is not to pretend the tax collector has done no wrong, but to accept our common humanity and to know that our real value is in loving and accepting ourselves as God loves us and not increasing our own value by putting others down.
The tax collector is also a person of worth. We can forget trying to earn credit points with God and establishing our worth on a relative scale. When we do so, we will have so much more time and energy for compassion, both receiving and giving it. ‘Pharisees’ need grace and forgiveness – just as much as tax collectors.
Let’s return again to the example of Chocolat. In a desperate attempt to ensure that the rules are kept, the Compte de Reynauld prompts the people to treat each other terribly. He has separated out his religious observance from the love of his fellow villagers.
The contrast between the Compte’s behaviour and the way in which Vianne invites people into her shop, and seeks to meet their deepest personal needs could not be stronger. In the end, the love which Vianne offers the villagers through chocolate even causes a change of heart for the Compte.
Towards the end of the film, the village priest finally makes sense of the relationship between the need to love God and love others. Preaching on Easter Sunday he says: “Listen, here's what I think. I think that we can't go around... measuring our goodness by what we don't do. By what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think... we've got to measure goodness by what we ‘embrace’, what we create... and who we include.”
Surely this is what Jesus is saying to the Pharisee. Rather than being self-righteous and caught up in comparing ourselves to others, we need to hold the love of God and the love of others in tight relation to one another.
So where does this leave us? This is not to say that prayer, giving to the church, spending time caring for others, or any of the good things that we do are pointless and worthless. What the parable is getting to is our intentionality as we do these things. If we pray or give or whatever, merely to earn brownie points, to be the best, most self-righteous religious person about, then these actions are meaningless. As Paul says in that section of 1 Corinthians that we most often hear at weddings: to paraphrase – if I have not love, then I am nothing but a clanging gong, or a noisy cymbal.
It’s all about Intentionality.
If our prayer, our love of God and love of one another comes out of a genuine longing for a relationship with God, and if our love for one another reflects the Kingdom of God to those we meet – then like the tax collector in the parable, our prayers are truly worthy of the living God.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Journey of Discipleship: "Follow me."
This is the sermon I preached this weekend at a local retirement village. You'll see that it fits the context.
Blessings!
SB
I’ve always enjoyed travelling. Before I began training for ministry I was a teacher, and this has given me some wonderful opportunities to travel.
• Taught Chinese – students to China (things go wrong – broken bones, lost passports, stolen passports etc)
• I’ve also taught in England and travelled around there – as well as using holidays to drive around Europe – (more adventures - stolen purse, losing my mother etc)
What I like most about travelling is that it provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about ourselves – how we deal with difficulties and challenges. We learn about who we really are. We meet amazing people. I’ve made friends whilst travelling that I stay in touch with many years later. Travelling provides opportunities for growth and our development as people.
In today’s reading Jesus too is going on a journey. This reading is the turning point in the gospel: Jesus is now heading towards Jerusalem. We who have read the whole story know exactly what that journey will mean: it’s the journey towards death on the cross, resurrection and return to the father. In the face of what he knows is the inevitable end of his journey, Jesus is determined – he “sets his face” to go to Jerusalem.
This is the journey that Jesus calls his disciples to join him on. The journey to Jerusalem and ultimately the cross.
The first thing that happens, as in any good travel story, is that Jesus sends his disciples on ahead to find a room for the night. The disciple enter a village of Samaritans, but find no welcome there. It’s probably not surprising that a Samaritan town won’t receive him – we know that there is long term animosity between the Samaritans and Jews from other stories in the bible. James and John don’t take this lack of hospitality very well and decide ask Jesus whether they should retaliate – call down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Their response to this slight is way out of proportion –to wreak havoc in the town, destroy lives and families because they wouldn’t offer them a bed.
In response, Jesus rebukes them. The issue is not just the destruction of the Samaritan town, but their whole mindset.
They are not displaying either the love of God or love of neighbour. They are mindlessly escalating a simple rejection into catastrophic reprisal. Instead, Jesus’ response is simply to move on to another village. Jesus, who will later uses the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans as a way of broadening out the idea of who can be a neighbour – who it is that we should show love, care and compassion to, uses this opportunity to teach the disciples another lesson. Rather than escalating a simple rejection and lack of hospitality into a monumental fight – the disciples are instead to move on to another town, to “let it go”, to keep their eyes on the journey ahead. “Don’t lose focus,” Jesus might be saying – “we’re heading for Jerusalem.”
As they continue on, they are met by three people who are considering following Jesus. The first, who voluntarily approaches Jesus is told that following Jesus is to have a life where there is nowhere to lay their head. The journey to Jerusalem and the cross is a difficult and perilous one.
The next two people are actually called by Jesus to: “Come and follow me.” Both are willing, but make excuses – there are things at home that need to be dealt with. The first has an apparently reasonable request: he needs to bury his father before he can follow Christ. The second wants to go and say farewell to those at home. Jesus tells them in no uncertain terms that they are to leave everything behind to follow him.
Did you notice that we are not told how any of these three potential disciples respond to Jesus? Did the first young man return home to bury his father? Did the second go back to get his parents approval? The gospel does not tell us – perhaps because this is not important. Because it isn’t the individual situations of these potential followers of Jesus that matter, it isn’t the point of the story.
If we get caught up in the nature of what the two men want to do before they head off or whether or not they actually end up following Jesus– we miss the point. Because, if we think about our own lives we do the same thing as these young men all the time, don’t we? There’s always something more pressing, more important to do. “Just hang on a sec, I need to ….” is a pretty common response to those we love, and to Jesus.
Because in truth, the things that matter to us always seem to be reasonable and sensible excuses, just as the responses of these men seem reasonable. What Jesus is saying here, is that nothing is more important than following him. There is nothing we should do first before we step out to follow him as disciples. To do so is to be spiritually dead. To follow Jesus is to be spiritually alive. To follow Jesus is to choose life – eternal life, in all its richness and fullness. Jesus isn’t saying: don’t care for your family, don’t meet your responsibilities – what he IS saying is that nothing, nothing, is more important than the life of faith and following him on the journey.
What is the journey that Jesus calls the disciples on like? Is it a cushy simple– it is not one of comfort and rest – but one where there is “nowhere for Jesus, the Son of Man, to lay his head.” To be a disciple is a difficult and costly journey.
So what does this mean for us today? Is this a journey that we can go on? If so, how? Well the first thing to say is that this is not a physical journey of travel, but rather one of spiritual pilgrimage – a call to follow Jesus is a call to enter into relationship with the living God who creates and sustains us.
The nature of a call to discipleship is different for all of us:
• for some it involves overseas missionary work,
• for others ministry in the church,
• for some it’s the intimate ministry of pastoral care: offering a cup of tea and a listening ear for someone in distress. Being prepared to spend time being present to another person in their time of need.
• Or maybe it is the ministry of prayer: praying for the world, for those who suffer, for those whose needs should be brought before God.
• Perhaps a ministry of hospitality: allowing others to experience something of the inclusive love of God.
Whatever the ministry, the journey that we are called to go on is a life long journey, one where our relationship with God grows and changes as we grow and change.
The nature of the activity that takes place may change over the course of our lives, but the invitation does not – nor does our need to continually respond to God’s calling diminish.
The other important thing to say is that we need tools for the journey. Just as a traveller does not set out without sturdy footwear, a good back pack and waterproof clothing, neither can a spiritual pilgrim embark on a journey of deepening relationship with God without the right equipment. The tools of the disciple on the journey are prayer, reading the bible, worship and fellowship with other Christians. These provide sustenance and the nourishment necessary for growth on the way.
So, as I said at the beginning, I love travelling. The thrill of new experiences and sights to see is wonderful. But perhaps the most exciting journey of all is the one that Jesus calls us to go on. A journey to Jerusalem: a journey with difficulty and hardship along the way, but a journey whose ultimate destination is to enter into the rich and abundant life of God.
Blessings!
SB
I’ve always enjoyed travelling. Before I began training for ministry I was a teacher, and this has given me some wonderful opportunities to travel.
• Taught Chinese – students to China (things go wrong – broken bones, lost passports, stolen passports etc)
• I’ve also taught in England and travelled around there – as well as using holidays to drive around Europe – (more adventures - stolen purse, losing my mother etc)
What I like most about travelling is that it provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about ourselves – how we deal with difficulties and challenges. We learn about who we really are. We meet amazing people. I’ve made friends whilst travelling that I stay in touch with many years later. Travelling provides opportunities for growth and our development as people.
In today’s reading Jesus too is going on a journey. This reading is the turning point in the gospel: Jesus is now heading towards Jerusalem. We who have read the whole story know exactly what that journey will mean: it’s the journey towards death on the cross, resurrection and return to the father. In the face of what he knows is the inevitable end of his journey, Jesus is determined – he “sets his face” to go to Jerusalem.
This is the journey that Jesus calls his disciples to join him on. The journey to Jerusalem and ultimately the cross.
The first thing that happens, as in any good travel story, is that Jesus sends his disciples on ahead to find a room for the night. The disciple enter a village of Samaritans, but find no welcome there. It’s probably not surprising that a Samaritan town won’t receive him – we know that there is long term animosity between the Samaritans and Jews from other stories in the bible. James and John don’t take this lack of hospitality very well and decide ask Jesus whether they should retaliate – call down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Their response to this slight is way out of proportion –to wreak havoc in the town, destroy lives and families because they wouldn’t offer them a bed.
In response, Jesus rebukes them. The issue is not just the destruction of the Samaritan town, but their whole mindset.
They are not displaying either the love of God or love of neighbour. They are mindlessly escalating a simple rejection into catastrophic reprisal. Instead, Jesus’ response is simply to move on to another village. Jesus, who will later uses the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans as a way of broadening out the idea of who can be a neighbour – who it is that we should show love, care and compassion to, uses this opportunity to teach the disciples another lesson. Rather than escalating a simple rejection and lack of hospitality into a monumental fight – the disciples are instead to move on to another town, to “let it go”, to keep their eyes on the journey ahead. “Don’t lose focus,” Jesus might be saying – “we’re heading for Jerusalem.”
As they continue on, they are met by three people who are considering following Jesus. The first, who voluntarily approaches Jesus is told that following Jesus is to have a life where there is nowhere to lay their head. The journey to Jerusalem and the cross is a difficult and perilous one.
The next two people are actually called by Jesus to: “Come and follow me.” Both are willing, but make excuses – there are things at home that need to be dealt with. The first has an apparently reasonable request: he needs to bury his father before he can follow Christ. The second wants to go and say farewell to those at home. Jesus tells them in no uncertain terms that they are to leave everything behind to follow him.
Did you notice that we are not told how any of these three potential disciples respond to Jesus? Did the first young man return home to bury his father? Did the second go back to get his parents approval? The gospel does not tell us – perhaps because this is not important. Because it isn’t the individual situations of these potential followers of Jesus that matter, it isn’t the point of the story.
If we get caught up in the nature of what the two men want to do before they head off or whether or not they actually end up following Jesus– we miss the point. Because, if we think about our own lives we do the same thing as these young men all the time, don’t we? There’s always something more pressing, more important to do. “Just hang on a sec, I need to ….” is a pretty common response to those we love, and to Jesus.
Because in truth, the things that matter to us always seem to be reasonable and sensible excuses, just as the responses of these men seem reasonable. What Jesus is saying here, is that nothing is more important than following him. There is nothing we should do first before we step out to follow him as disciples. To do so is to be spiritually dead. To follow Jesus is to be spiritually alive. To follow Jesus is to choose life – eternal life, in all its richness and fullness. Jesus isn’t saying: don’t care for your family, don’t meet your responsibilities – what he IS saying is that nothing, nothing, is more important than the life of faith and following him on the journey.
What is the journey that Jesus calls the disciples on like? Is it a cushy simple– it is not one of comfort and rest – but one where there is “nowhere for Jesus, the Son of Man, to lay his head.” To be a disciple is a difficult and costly journey.
So what does this mean for us today? Is this a journey that we can go on? If so, how? Well the first thing to say is that this is not a physical journey of travel, but rather one of spiritual pilgrimage – a call to follow Jesus is a call to enter into relationship with the living God who creates and sustains us.
The nature of a call to discipleship is different for all of us:
• for some it involves overseas missionary work,
• for others ministry in the church,
• for some it’s the intimate ministry of pastoral care: offering a cup of tea and a listening ear for someone in distress. Being prepared to spend time being present to another person in their time of need.
• Or maybe it is the ministry of prayer: praying for the world, for those who suffer, for those whose needs should be brought before God.
• Perhaps a ministry of hospitality: allowing others to experience something of the inclusive love of God.
Whatever the ministry, the journey that we are called to go on is a life long journey, one where our relationship with God grows and changes as we grow and change.
The nature of the activity that takes place may change over the course of our lives, but the invitation does not – nor does our need to continually respond to God’s calling diminish.
The other important thing to say is that we need tools for the journey. Just as a traveller does not set out without sturdy footwear, a good back pack and waterproof clothing, neither can a spiritual pilgrim embark on a journey of deepening relationship with God without the right equipment. The tools of the disciple on the journey are prayer, reading the bible, worship and fellowship with other Christians. These provide sustenance and the nourishment necessary for growth on the way.
So, as I said at the beginning, I love travelling. The thrill of new experiences and sights to see is wonderful. But perhaps the most exciting journey of all is the one that Jesus calls us to go on. A journey to Jerusalem: a journey with difficulty and hardship along the way, but a journey whose ultimate destination is to enter into the rich and abundant life of God.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
"Seeing before Believing" a sermon on John 20:19-32
Some events are so big, so extraordinarily momentous that you never ever forget. You can remember exactly where you are even years after:
Can you remember where you where you were when:
JFK got shot?
Man walked on the moon?
9/11?
When Australia won the America’s cup?
The dismissal?
I remember some of those – but I was but a twinkle for others – they’re not part of my own living memory, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology I have seen the TV footage.
If we were connected to the internet here I’d be able to Google them and we could watch them again now, right here on the big screen as if they were happening live. We’ve become so used to being able to ‘see’ what happened at an important event that we rely on our sight for proof: if we didn’t see it, then it just didn’t happen.
The situation was sort of similar for the people in John’s community. At the time when John’s gospel was being written down the last few eye witnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection were dying out. The community John was writing for was the second generation of disciples who hadn’t seen the event.
How could they believe what they hadn’t seen for themselves?
The writer of John’s gospel writes down what happened, what the eye witnesses saw – not just merely so that the second (and subsequent) generations could see the events that happened – but so that they might believe. John tells us this in what is sometimes described as John’s statement of intention for the writing of the gospel- he is writing: “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
The events of the life of Christ, and most specifically the event of Easter, is the biggest of all world changing events. It’s bigger than the dismissal, bigger than JFK, bigger even than Collingwood winning a grand final. We need a record of these events not merely so we can see them happening – but so that we can believe – and through them have life in Jesus’ name.
And we see this point illustrated in today’s Gospel reading. This story is one of my favorite parts of John’s gospel. It is a story filled with suspense:
• the disciples are hiding in an upper room behind locked doors.
• Earlier that very morning Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and seen that the stone had been rolled away.
• She had called the male disciples and they had raced to the tomb. The other disciple -‘whom Jesus loved’ had seen the grave clothes rolled up and had believed.
• The men had returned to their homes and Mary had been left crying at the tomb.
• Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and in one of the most beautiful and touching moments in any written text he speaks her name: “Mary.”
• She recognizes him as her teacher and rushes back to the disciples in the locked room and in the verse before our story today begins she declares to them: “ I have seen the Lord.”
The first sighting and the announcement of the Risen Jesus is placed in the mouth of a woman in John’s gospel. One can only imagine the conversation that ensued. Peter and the other disciple had seen the empty tomb, but not Jesus himself.
The disciples in the upper room were afraid. Their beloved teacher been crucified at the hands of the Roman authorities at the request of the Jewish officials. The disciples were hiding from the Jews behind locked doors.
The time setting is just as important as the place: it holds a clue to the significance of the story. The writer of John’s gospel doesn’t want us to miss it so he reminds us saying that it is the “evening of the first day of the week.”
This reminds us of the story of creation In the genesis story on the first day God created the heavens and the earth. This very gospel begins not with the story of baby Jesus being born to Mary but with another reminder of creation: in the beginning was the word – and the word was with God, and the word was God.”
So at the end of his gospel, John is reminding us that this story is happening on the ‘first day of the week’ so that we make the connection to the processes of creation. It is a story with earthly and heavenly significance just like the genesis story. The events in the upper room that night, along with the events of the previous few days are like a “new creation.”
Jesus as God made man enters into human time to build a bridge between the disciples and God.
So on the evening of the first day, the risen Jesus enters into the locked room. Into that fear filled room Jesus speaks these words: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And then he breathes on them and says: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ In the first statement Jesus gives peace to the gathered community of disciples. It is the peace that he promised them on the night before he was betrayed. It is a peace not of this world – but peace which comes from God.
But this peace is not for them and them alone. It is not a gift which can be kept – but one which needs to be passed on.
So Jesus immediately breathes the Holy Spirit on them and sends them out. Just as the Father has commissioned Jesus, so he commissions them to go out and share the good news with the people. The disciples are able to act to forgive sins not in their own power, but because they have received the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed life into the clay of the earth and created Adam in the genesis story, so the risen Jesus breathes new life into his disciples so that they may go out and join in the work of the spirit, reuniting people with God.
Unfortunately though one of the disciples was not present in the upper room that night and missed seeing the risen Jesus. Thomas was not there.
Poor old Thomas gets rather bad press doesn’t he? Doubting Thomas. He’s been saddled with the title for 2000 years – it’s so common an expression that people who have no idea of the Christian story use it. A bit unfair I think!
If you or I had missed out on what had happened in that upper room I think we’d probably have reacted the same way.
The morning after 9/11 I remember going to the library at recess and standing silently watching the television. More and more students and staff came in and watched. We all needed to see it. The images were unbelievable weren’t they? Even at our school in Melbourne there were kids who had family members who had worked in those towers, and others knew people that were in New York or Washington and were anxiously awaiting phone calls.
We needed to ‘see’ in order to believe. Just like Thomas.
Thomas provides a bridge – a way into the story for the generations who follow – those who, like Thomas want to say – well unless I see it – unless I touch those wounds I cannot believe.
Notice what happens in the story:
Jesus comes again, a week later, into the locked upper room. He doesn’t berate Thomas and tell him off – he invites him to touch his wounds – “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”
Now here’s the interesting part – not what does happen, but what does not.
We are not told what Thomas does – but what he says. We don’t know if he does touch and see – but we do know that he reaches out in belief – because his very next statement is “My Lord and My God!” Thomas has reached out in faith and come to belief in Jesus – not as a mere human being but as the divine Son of God.
And this is our point of invitation into the text. We as readers of the gospels, beyond the original disciples - who are human just like him – who want to see and touch in order to believe are invited to see and know Jesus on a deeper level to “reach out – to not doubt and believe.”
Seeing and but far more importantly believing in the Risen Christ had a profound effect on Jesus’ disciples.
And we see that effect in our second reading from Acts, in which Peter stands up to the High Priest in the council. The disciples had been given strict instructions not to preach in Jesus’ name, and yet they did. Peter stands up to them and tells them that he speaks under God’s authority and with the help of the Holy Spirit that had been given to them by God. When the High priests heard Peter we are told that they were so enraged that they wanted to kill them straight away.
Isn’t this an extraordinary turn around! This is the same Peter who, when questioned by a young girl by a fire on the night that Jesus was taken into custody denied knowing him three times! Now in a potentially much more dangerous situation, Peter is able to stand up and claim his faith. Not only had he seen, far more importantly he had believed: the spirit of God was able to work within him to continue to spread the Good News of Christ.
We know too from later historical sources that Thomas had quite an extraordinary career as an evangelist spreading the gospel. Sources from the 3rd century tell us that he made it as far as India, in fact the Thomist Church in India, one of the very earliest Christian churches claims their descent from the teachings of St Thomas. Thomas who had to see to believe, who came to faith in that moment in the upper room was changed forever. God was able to use him to further his mission.
All of this must have been enormous comfort to the early followers of Christ, caught between the death and resurrection of Jesus and the second coming that they were waiting for with eager expectation.
So it is for us too – for we, like Jesus’ earliest disciples are ordinary folks - we bumble and make mistakes – lack faith and ask questions. We mightn’t have video footage of the events in the upper room that night, but we do have the recollections of the events as they have come down to us in John’s gospel.
Caught between the alpha and the omega – the beginning and the end times we, along with John’s community are the receivers of what happened in the upper room that day.
Just like in that early catacombs painting– between the beginning and the end there is Jesus.
Jesus saying to us as to the disciples in the locked room: “My peace I leave for you” there is nothing left for us to fear.
The Holy Spirit breathed onto the first disciples is also breathed into our lives to empower us and send us out into the world.
May we, like Peter and Thomas be empowered by the Holy Spirit to not fear and to go forth into the world to continue the mission of God.
Can you remember where you where you were when:
JFK got shot?
Man walked on the moon?
9/11?
When Australia won the America’s cup?
The dismissal?
I remember some of those – but I was but a twinkle for others – they’re not part of my own living memory, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology I have seen the TV footage.
If we were connected to the internet here I’d be able to Google them and we could watch them again now, right here on the big screen as if they were happening live. We’ve become so used to being able to ‘see’ what happened at an important event that we rely on our sight for proof: if we didn’t see it, then it just didn’t happen.
The situation was sort of similar for the people in John’s community. At the time when John’s gospel was being written down the last few eye witnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection were dying out. The community John was writing for was the second generation of disciples who hadn’t seen the event.
How could they believe what they hadn’t seen for themselves?
The writer of John’s gospel writes down what happened, what the eye witnesses saw – not just merely so that the second (and subsequent) generations could see the events that happened – but so that they might believe. John tells us this in what is sometimes described as John’s statement of intention for the writing of the gospel- he is writing: “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
The events of the life of Christ, and most specifically the event of Easter, is the biggest of all world changing events. It’s bigger than the dismissal, bigger than JFK, bigger even than Collingwood winning a grand final. We need a record of these events not merely so we can see them happening – but so that we can believe – and through them have life in Jesus’ name.
And we see this point illustrated in today’s Gospel reading. This story is one of my favorite parts of John’s gospel. It is a story filled with suspense:
• the disciples are hiding in an upper room behind locked doors.
• Earlier that very morning Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and seen that the stone had been rolled away.
• She had called the male disciples and they had raced to the tomb. The other disciple -‘whom Jesus loved’ had seen the grave clothes rolled up and had believed.
• The men had returned to their homes and Mary had been left crying at the tomb.
• Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and in one of the most beautiful and touching moments in any written text he speaks her name: “Mary.”
• She recognizes him as her teacher and rushes back to the disciples in the locked room and in the verse before our story today begins she declares to them: “ I have seen the Lord.”
The first sighting and the announcement of the Risen Jesus is placed in the mouth of a woman in John’s gospel. One can only imagine the conversation that ensued. Peter and the other disciple had seen the empty tomb, but not Jesus himself.
The disciples in the upper room were afraid. Their beloved teacher been crucified at the hands of the Roman authorities at the request of the Jewish officials. The disciples were hiding from the Jews behind locked doors.
The time setting is just as important as the place: it holds a clue to the significance of the story. The writer of John’s gospel doesn’t want us to miss it so he reminds us saying that it is the “evening of the first day of the week.”
This reminds us of the story of creation In the genesis story on the first day God created the heavens and the earth. This very gospel begins not with the story of baby Jesus being born to Mary but with another reminder of creation: in the beginning was the word – and the word was with God, and the word was God.”
So at the end of his gospel, John is reminding us that this story is happening on the ‘first day of the week’ so that we make the connection to the processes of creation. It is a story with earthly and heavenly significance just like the genesis story. The events in the upper room that night, along with the events of the previous few days are like a “new creation.”
Jesus as God made man enters into human time to build a bridge between the disciples and God.
So on the evening of the first day, the risen Jesus enters into the locked room. Into that fear filled room Jesus speaks these words: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And then he breathes on them and says: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ In the first statement Jesus gives peace to the gathered community of disciples. It is the peace that he promised them on the night before he was betrayed. It is a peace not of this world – but peace which comes from God.
But this peace is not for them and them alone. It is not a gift which can be kept – but one which needs to be passed on.
So Jesus immediately breathes the Holy Spirit on them and sends them out. Just as the Father has commissioned Jesus, so he commissions them to go out and share the good news with the people. The disciples are able to act to forgive sins not in their own power, but because they have received the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed life into the clay of the earth and created Adam in the genesis story, so the risen Jesus breathes new life into his disciples so that they may go out and join in the work of the spirit, reuniting people with God.
Unfortunately though one of the disciples was not present in the upper room that night and missed seeing the risen Jesus. Thomas was not there.
Poor old Thomas gets rather bad press doesn’t he? Doubting Thomas. He’s been saddled with the title for 2000 years – it’s so common an expression that people who have no idea of the Christian story use it. A bit unfair I think!
If you or I had missed out on what had happened in that upper room I think we’d probably have reacted the same way.
The morning after 9/11 I remember going to the library at recess and standing silently watching the television. More and more students and staff came in and watched. We all needed to see it. The images were unbelievable weren’t they? Even at our school in Melbourne there were kids who had family members who had worked in those towers, and others knew people that were in New York or Washington and were anxiously awaiting phone calls.
We needed to ‘see’ in order to believe. Just like Thomas.
Thomas provides a bridge – a way into the story for the generations who follow – those who, like Thomas want to say – well unless I see it – unless I touch those wounds I cannot believe.
Notice what happens in the story:
Jesus comes again, a week later, into the locked upper room. He doesn’t berate Thomas and tell him off – he invites him to touch his wounds – “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”
Now here’s the interesting part – not what does happen, but what does not.
We are not told what Thomas does – but what he says. We don’t know if he does touch and see – but we do know that he reaches out in belief – because his very next statement is “My Lord and My God!” Thomas has reached out in faith and come to belief in Jesus – not as a mere human being but as the divine Son of God.
And this is our point of invitation into the text. We as readers of the gospels, beyond the original disciples - who are human just like him – who want to see and touch in order to believe are invited to see and know Jesus on a deeper level to “reach out – to not doubt and believe.”
Seeing and but far more importantly believing in the Risen Christ had a profound effect on Jesus’ disciples.
And we see that effect in our second reading from Acts, in which Peter stands up to the High Priest in the council. The disciples had been given strict instructions not to preach in Jesus’ name, and yet they did. Peter stands up to them and tells them that he speaks under God’s authority and with the help of the Holy Spirit that had been given to them by God. When the High priests heard Peter we are told that they were so enraged that they wanted to kill them straight away.
Isn’t this an extraordinary turn around! This is the same Peter who, when questioned by a young girl by a fire on the night that Jesus was taken into custody denied knowing him three times! Now in a potentially much more dangerous situation, Peter is able to stand up and claim his faith. Not only had he seen, far more importantly he had believed: the spirit of God was able to work within him to continue to spread the Good News of Christ.
We know too from later historical sources that Thomas had quite an extraordinary career as an evangelist spreading the gospel. Sources from the 3rd century tell us that he made it as far as India, in fact the Thomist Church in India, one of the very earliest Christian churches claims their descent from the teachings of St Thomas. Thomas who had to see to believe, who came to faith in that moment in the upper room was changed forever. God was able to use him to further his mission.
All of this must have been enormous comfort to the early followers of Christ, caught between the death and resurrection of Jesus and the second coming that they were waiting for with eager expectation.
So it is for us too – for we, like Jesus’ earliest disciples are ordinary folks - we bumble and make mistakes – lack faith and ask questions. We mightn’t have video footage of the events in the upper room that night, but we do have the recollections of the events as they have come down to us in John’s gospel.
Caught between the alpha and the omega – the beginning and the end times we, along with John’s community are the receivers of what happened in the upper room that day.
Just like in that early catacombs painting– between the beginning and the end there is Jesus.
Jesus saying to us as to the disciples in the locked room: “My peace I leave for you” there is nothing left for us to fear.
The Holy Spirit breathed onto the first disciples is also breathed into our lives to empower us and send us out into the world.
May we, like Peter and Thomas be empowered by the Holy Spirit to not fear and to go forth into the world to continue the mission of God.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Jesus' announces his purpose.... and ours.
Well it's been way, way too long since I've posted anything on this blog - I'll try and post a bit more regularly this year - which should be easier now that I'm not trying to work and study.
I'm experimenting with using fewer notes when preaching - so they're not really great for publication any more. I thought instead that I might post the blurb I wrote for the church notice sheet instead.
Jesus announces his purpose…and ours.
Today’s reading (Luke 4: 14-21) marks the start of Jesus’ ministry. In modern terms, it’s like a campaign launch. What we learn from this reading sets us up for reading the rest of Luke’s gospel.
Jesus is in the Synagogue in Nazareth, his home town. He stands, unrolls the great scroll containing the Hebrew scriptures and reads from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus’ audience that day in Nazareth was much like the one who heard Isaiah’s original proclamation. They are a captive people, living under Roman rule. Many are poor, many suffer from blindness, both physical and spiritual. This proclamation from the scriptures must have been welcome words indeed.
All eyes were upon Jesus. His mission statement is short and pithy: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Then Jesus sat down.
Jesus’ enigmatic statement is as much about who he is as it is about what he will do. Jesus is declaring that he himself is the fulfilment of the scriptures. In his life and death he will bring about the release of the captives. Through him the people will truly see. Jesus himself is the good news to the poor. In other words, it is not so much what Jesus does, the miracles and healings that he performs which matters, it is what they point to: the reality that Jesus is the Son of God, who invites us into relationship with him.
What a mission statement! And it is not the mission of Jesus alone. When we read of Jesus’ baptism a couple of weeks ago we learned that through our baptism we are called into Jesus’ mission: anointed by the spirit with Him to bring Christ’s good news to all people. What does this mean for your own personal ministry? What does it mean for your ministry in our community and beyond?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Doubt: A gift for faith development
Hi,
Haven't posted for ages, so thought I'd pop up the sermon I preached this morning at Hastings Uniting Church. They're such a lovely bunch down there, and made us very welcome.
Please feel free to comment!
Catch you round,
SB
Easter 2B: Text John 21: 19-31
A week or so ago I drove up through the fire ravaged Kinglake National Park on my way up to Mansfield to visit my family. I was struck by the devastation; the once lush, green forest now destroyed, the earth, the trees, charred black. It was hard to get my bearings as I drove along a road that I have travelled many, many times; the familiar points of reference along the way were gone. As I drove I thought about and prayed for the families who had lost homes and livelihoods, family members and animals. Just under two months on from 7th February, emotions are still raw, people still homeless, decisions about rebuilding homes and communities still being made. For the people living in these areas the process is going to be a long and painful one, some scars taking years, even decades to heal.
My thoughts as I drove through the forest ring strangely true as we look at this week’s gospel reading. For us as we commemorate Easter, 2000 years or so after the fact, the triumph of Easter day and the resurrection seem obvious. The extraordinary effect of Christ’s death and resurrection on the world, on the lives of Christians for the last 2 millennia can be seen and felt. We are living in an era in which we have been able to make at least some sense of the events from the safety of distance and time.
But imagine how it was for the followers of Jesus immediately after his death on the cross. Only a week before, Jesus had entered Jerusalem triumphantly to the adulation of the crowds (albeit riding on a lowly donkey.) Only a couple of days before, Jesus had broken bread and drunk of the cup with them, and, in John’s gospel, had washed the feet of these very disciples. Events had escalated quickly after that and now, according to all reasonable evidence, Jesus was dead. In the evening of the first day of the week, they are meeting in the home of one of the group. We are told that the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jewish authorities.
Earlier that very morning, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the Beloved Disciple went to the tomb and discovered that the stone had been rolled away. Now, in that room with the locked door, the three tell the community about the empty tomb - and Mary speaks of her strange meeting with the man she mistook for a gardener and then recognised as “Rabboni,” her beloved teacher, Jesus. Until this point, the disciples had feared for their lives. Their revered leader has been killed as a criminal and they were surely terrified that they would be next. Imagine what their conversation must have been like as they tried to make sense of the amazing stories of Mary, Peter and the Beloved Disciple in this climate of fear.
Suddenly Jesus appeared in this fear filled upper room. Jesus, the Messiah has returned. What does he say? Does he tell them how he’s going to get revenge, to destroy the Jewish authorities who handed him over to the Romans? You can imagine it as the plot of an action film: Jesus the wronged hero is back. He’s mad. And he’s going to get even. No need for fear disciples: Action Man Jesus has returned and is out for Justice. This time it’s personal.
But that’s not how this story plays out is it? Instead, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he showed them his hands and his side. Jesus spoke into their fear and terror with words of peace and hope which are consistent with the message of his entire ministry. What an amazing transformative effect these words of peace and hope had on his disciples. We are told that they “rejoiced” when they saw the Lord. They were transported from a place of fear into a world of hope. Once injected with this sense of peace and hope Jesus speaks to them of what their mission will be saying again: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The disciples are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the advocate who will remain with them to guide them and encourage them in the work which Jesus is leaving for them. From this point on the disciples are transformed. No longer looking back at what had gone before, but looking forward to the possibilities for new life and growth which lay ahead. As we learn in the book of Acts, many of them underwent great trials and sufferings for the sake of the gospel. How very different they become from that fearful, terror stricken bunch we first meet behind locked doors at the start of today’s reading.
However, one disciple is not present in the upper room and misses the action. Poor old Thomas! The other disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord.” And he responds: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Thomas has received an extraordinary amount of bad press for this response over the years. In everyday speech we call a person who doubts something unless they have direct physical evidence a “doubting Thomas.” However Thomas’ response to the disciples is spoken honestly, and from the place of fear with which the disciples were all too familiar. We disparage Thomas because we think that doubt is something which is alien to faith. On the contrary, a faith which allows questions of doubt in is one which is open to challenge and ultimately to growth. And this is what we see happening to Thomas in this story.
A week later when the disciples are in the house, although apparently not behind locked doors this time, Jesus appears to them again. This time after greeting them: “Peace be with you.” he immediately addresses Thomas’ doubt. Jesus says to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas’ doubt and questioning lead to an opportunity for the growth and development of his faith. Thomas, who had doubted, is, like the other disciples who are locked behind closed doors that first Easter day for “fear of the Jews”, greatly transformed. It is said that by around AD50 he had reached India – indeed, the Orthodox Church in India, one of the oldest in the world, traces its roots back to Thomas the Twin. Quite something, that a church should claim as its founder, one who is often derided for having doubts!
But so, too, it is with us. We are often lead to believe that doubt damages our faith – that we must believe unquestioningly and blindly. Instead of seeing doubt as the enemy of faith, we should think of it as an opportunity for dialogue with God, an opportunity for the growth and development of our relationship with God. From crisis and turmoil comes growth and change.
Indeed, as I drove through the Kinglake National forest on my way home from Mansfield, I noticed a riot of new growth on the trunks and branches of the trees. Not only that, the beautiful, majestic tree ferns were sprouting new fronds, stretching up towards the light. How extraordinarily resilient is the Australian bush - not two months on from such a horrific fire and there is already regrowth. Even after the devastation and destruction of the Black Saturday fires, signs of new life are beginning to emerge!
Signs of new life amongst the human inhabitants of the fire effected areas are also starting to appear. Last Sunday night, ABC news reported on Easter church services around the state. In Marysville, site of the greatest destruction on Black Saturday, the Catholic and Anglican congregations, having lost their church buildings, met together in a marquee for a joint Easter service. The news reported people who were still lamenting the loss of loved ones, homes, and all they held dear, but who, at the same time, were able to see the green of new growth around them: grass on the football oval, new shoots on the trees that surrounded them. Signs of hope for the future.
Survivors were interviewed and they reported that although they are still reeling and trying to come to terms with the losses they have suffered, nevertheless, they were beginning to be able to look forward, to think about rebuilding their lives and their communities. Of course there will be tough times ahead as people continue to express their doubts and ask the difficult questions, just as there will be for all of us as we continue to try to make meaning of the difficult times we currently find our selves in.
But just as Jesus met the disciples in the upper room with the greeting: “Peace be with you,” so he meets us in our times of need. And just as this greeting in the upper room was able to lift the disciples out of their fear and trepidation at what lay ahead, so can the Christ who greets us in the Holy Spirit give us hope and strength for the tasks which lie ahead of us.
In the centre of today’s reading, after Jesus greets the disciples in the upper room, we have John’s version of the Pentecost narrative: Jesus giving the spirit to the disciples.
Earlier in the gospel, John explains the purpose of the paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom he will leave with them. The spirit is to be a guide, an advocate, one who will intercede with God for them on Christ’s behalf - Christ’s intercession enacting his giving and forgiving love for us. As Christ meets with the disciples in the upper room he breathes on them, leaving the Holy Spirit with them as a companion and support on the road ahead.
And this leads us to the final important point in today’s reading. Where are the disciples to go from here? The disciples are being sent out by Jesus, just has he himself was sent by the father right at the beginning of John’s narrative. This is the premise for discipleship for John’s community and indeed for ours. It sets our agenda by directing us to do what Jesus did: to share his love and forgiveness with others. Jesus offered light and life and truth through relationship with himself, through
relationship with God. Therefore it is our role too to offer light and life and truth through a relationship with God to those we meet. As Jesus was God's representative, so his disciples are to be ambassadors, handing on Christ’s light of hope, to the generations which will follow. We are not left alone to pass on this light in our own strength, but we do it with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, breathed into our very lives.
Having at last reached the end of John’s gospel, the task is clear. Although we may still at times have doubts and fears, as the disciples did, although we will still struggle with the situations we find ourselves in, Christ has given us a task to do and has breathed the Holy Spirit as a guide and advocate for the journey as we go forward to continue Christ’s work in the world. As the gospel ends it seems to be opening up a new vista ahead of Christ’s first disciples, and ahead of us too, a journey that we might have life, and life in Christ’s name. Amen.
Haven't posted for ages, so thought I'd pop up the sermon I preached this morning at Hastings Uniting Church. They're such a lovely bunch down there, and made us very welcome.
Please feel free to comment!
Catch you round,
SB
Easter 2B: Text John 21: 19-31
A week or so ago I drove up through the fire ravaged Kinglake National Park on my way up to Mansfield to visit my family. I was struck by the devastation; the once lush, green forest now destroyed, the earth, the trees, charred black. It was hard to get my bearings as I drove along a road that I have travelled many, many times; the familiar points of reference along the way were gone. As I drove I thought about and prayed for the families who had lost homes and livelihoods, family members and animals. Just under two months on from 7th February, emotions are still raw, people still homeless, decisions about rebuilding homes and communities still being made. For the people living in these areas the process is going to be a long and painful one, some scars taking years, even decades to heal.
My thoughts as I drove through the forest ring strangely true as we look at this week’s gospel reading. For us as we commemorate Easter, 2000 years or so after the fact, the triumph of Easter day and the resurrection seem obvious. The extraordinary effect of Christ’s death and resurrection on the world, on the lives of Christians for the last 2 millennia can be seen and felt. We are living in an era in which we have been able to make at least some sense of the events from the safety of distance and time.
But imagine how it was for the followers of Jesus immediately after his death on the cross. Only a week before, Jesus had entered Jerusalem triumphantly to the adulation of the crowds (albeit riding on a lowly donkey.) Only a couple of days before, Jesus had broken bread and drunk of the cup with them, and, in John’s gospel, had washed the feet of these very disciples. Events had escalated quickly after that and now, according to all reasonable evidence, Jesus was dead. In the evening of the first day of the week, they are meeting in the home of one of the group. We are told that the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jewish authorities.
Earlier that very morning, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the Beloved Disciple went to the tomb and discovered that the stone had been rolled away. Now, in that room with the locked door, the three tell the community about the empty tomb - and Mary speaks of her strange meeting with the man she mistook for a gardener and then recognised as “Rabboni,” her beloved teacher, Jesus. Until this point, the disciples had feared for their lives. Their revered leader has been killed as a criminal and they were surely terrified that they would be next. Imagine what their conversation must have been like as they tried to make sense of the amazing stories of Mary, Peter and the Beloved Disciple in this climate of fear.
Suddenly Jesus appeared in this fear filled upper room. Jesus, the Messiah has returned. What does he say? Does he tell them how he’s going to get revenge, to destroy the Jewish authorities who handed him over to the Romans? You can imagine it as the plot of an action film: Jesus the wronged hero is back. He’s mad. And he’s going to get even. No need for fear disciples: Action Man Jesus has returned and is out for Justice. This time it’s personal.
But that’s not how this story plays out is it? Instead, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he showed them his hands and his side. Jesus spoke into their fear and terror with words of peace and hope which are consistent with the message of his entire ministry. What an amazing transformative effect these words of peace and hope had on his disciples. We are told that they “rejoiced” when they saw the Lord. They were transported from a place of fear into a world of hope. Once injected with this sense of peace and hope Jesus speaks to them of what their mission will be saying again: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The disciples are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the advocate who will remain with them to guide them and encourage them in the work which Jesus is leaving for them. From this point on the disciples are transformed. No longer looking back at what had gone before, but looking forward to the possibilities for new life and growth which lay ahead. As we learn in the book of Acts, many of them underwent great trials and sufferings for the sake of the gospel. How very different they become from that fearful, terror stricken bunch we first meet behind locked doors at the start of today’s reading.
However, one disciple is not present in the upper room and misses the action. Poor old Thomas! The other disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord.” And he responds: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Thomas has received an extraordinary amount of bad press for this response over the years. In everyday speech we call a person who doubts something unless they have direct physical evidence a “doubting Thomas.” However Thomas’ response to the disciples is spoken honestly, and from the place of fear with which the disciples were all too familiar. We disparage Thomas because we think that doubt is something which is alien to faith. On the contrary, a faith which allows questions of doubt in is one which is open to challenge and ultimately to growth. And this is what we see happening to Thomas in this story.
A week later when the disciples are in the house, although apparently not behind locked doors this time, Jesus appears to them again. This time after greeting them: “Peace be with you.” he immediately addresses Thomas’ doubt. Jesus says to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas’ doubt and questioning lead to an opportunity for the growth and development of his faith. Thomas, who had doubted, is, like the other disciples who are locked behind closed doors that first Easter day for “fear of the Jews”, greatly transformed. It is said that by around AD50 he had reached India – indeed, the Orthodox Church in India, one of the oldest in the world, traces its roots back to Thomas the Twin. Quite something, that a church should claim as its founder, one who is often derided for having doubts!
But so, too, it is with us. We are often lead to believe that doubt damages our faith – that we must believe unquestioningly and blindly. Instead of seeing doubt as the enemy of faith, we should think of it as an opportunity for dialogue with God, an opportunity for the growth and development of our relationship with God. From crisis and turmoil comes growth and change.
Indeed, as I drove through the Kinglake National forest on my way home from Mansfield, I noticed a riot of new growth on the trunks and branches of the trees. Not only that, the beautiful, majestic tree ferns were sprouting new fronds, stretching up towards the light. How extraordinarily resilient is the Australian bush - not two months on from such a horrific fire and there is already regrowth. Even after the devastation and destruction of the Black Saturday fires, signs of new life are beginning to emerge!
Signs of new life amongst the human inhabitants of the fire effected areas are also starting to appear. Last Sunday night, ABC news reported on Easter church services around the state. In Marysville, site of the greatest destruction on Black Saturday, the Catholic and Anglican congregations, having lost their church buildings, met together in a marquee for a joint Easter service. The news reported people who were still lamenting the loss of loved ones, homes, and all they held dear, but who, at the same time, were able to see the green of new growth around them: grass on the football oval, new shoots on the trees that surrounded them. Signs of hope for the future.
Survivors were interviewed and they reported that although they are still reeling and trying to come to terms with the losses they have suffered, nevertheless, they were beginning to be able to look forward, to think about rebuilding their lives and their communities. Of course there will be tough times ahead as people continue to express their doubts and ask the difficult questions, just as there will be for all of us as we continue to try to make meaning of the difficult times we currently find our selves in.
But just as Jesus met the disciples in the upper room with the greeting: “Peace be with you,” so he meets us in our times of need. And just as this greeting in the upper room was able to lift the disciples out of their fear and trepidation at what lay ahead, so can the Christ who greets us in the Holy Spirit give us hope and strength for the tasks which lie ahead of us.
In the centre of today’s reading, after Jesus greets the disciples in the upper room, we have John’s version of the Pentecost narrative: Jesus giving the spirit to the disciples.
Earlier in the gospel, John explains the purpose of the paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom he will leave with them. The spirit is to be a guide, an advocate, one who will intercede with God for them on Christ’s behalf - Christ’s intercession enacting his giving and forgiving love for us. As Christ meets with the disciples in the upper room he breathes on them, leaving the Holy Spirit with them as a companion and support on the road ahead.
And this leads us to the final important point in today’s reading. Where are the disciples to go from here? The disciples are being sent out by Jesus, just has he himself was sent by the father right at the beginning of John’s narrative. This is the premise for discipleship for John’s community and indeed for ours. It sets our agenda by directing us to do what Jesus did: to share his love and forgiveness with others. Jesus offered light and life and truth through relationship with himself, through
relationship with God. Therefore it is our role too to offer light and life and truth through a relationship with God to those we meet. As Jesus was God's representative, so his disciples are to be ambassadors, handing on Christ’s light of hope, to the generations which will follow. We are not left alone to pass on this light in our own strength, but we do it with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, breathed into our very lives.
Having at last reached the end of John’s gospel, the task is clear. Although we may still at times have doubts and fears, as the disciples did, although we will still struggle with the situations we find ourselves in, Christ has given us a task to do and has breathed the Holy Spirit as a guide and advocate for the journey as we go forward to continue Christ’s work in the world. As the gospel ends it seems to be opening up a new vista ahead of Christ’s first disciples, and ahead of us too, a journey that we might have life, and life in Christ’s name. Amen.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Fishy Tales... or Jonah, the Reluctant Prophet
Epiphany 3B: Jonah 3:1-5,10 & Mark 1:14-20.
Hi all,
After a busy summer of placements and preaching I thought it was time to publish something... so here is the sermon I preached this morning at Ashburton Uniting Church. You'll find BB's sermon on the same reading here.
Enjoy... it's nose back to the grindstone from this week!
Blessings
SB
Today we have two rather fishy stories. Jonah, famous for being eaten by a fish answers God’s call to speak with the people of Nineveh. And in Mark’s gospel the call of the disciples to give up their fishing nets and become “fisher’s of men.” Two very different stories of God’s call and human response which contrast with each other in interesting and rather surprising ways.
Jonah, a very short book of only a page and a half is one which we don’t tend to read very often. I reckon if we took a poll around this and other Uniting churches people would recognise that it’s the story of “Jonah and the Whale” but what happens before that? Why does he end up in the whale’s belly? And what does Jonah do once he’s released? It’s a vivid and interesting story which definitely bears re-telling, especially if you haven’t heard it since Sunday school! It also holds an eternal message which is just as relevant to us today as it was to its ancient audience.
The story begins with Jonah being called by God to be a prophet to the city of Nineveh, to cry out against their wickedness. Jonah is not keen on the idea.
Instead of going east to the city of Nineveh, Jonah gets on a boat and goes west towards Tarshish, as far away as he can from the call. God sends a great wind and a mighty storm blows up. Jonah is asleep down in the hold of the ship and the sailors go down to wake him up. They beg him to do something. They discover that Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the LORD who created the sea and the waves and decide finally to throw him overboard in the hope that the Lord will then calm the sea.
Once overboard, Jonah is swallowed by a big fish. He stays in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights during which time he prays to Yahweh acknowledging that God has responded to his plight and promising that he will give thanks on deliverance. At the end of chapter 2, just prior to today’s story, the LORD spoke to the fish, and, as the NRSV delicately puts it, the fish “spewed Jonah out upon dry land”.
After being saved from the belly of the big fish, comes the story which Andrew shared with us earlier. Jonah hears the call of the Lord a second time asking him to go to Nineveh. Jonah has been given a second chance. This time he heads straight off! We’re told that he walks across the city for three days and cries out: “Forty days more, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!” Instead of asking why this will happen, or indeed who is creating this catastrophe, we’re told that the Ninevites believed God, proclaimed a fast and put on sack cloth. The King on hearing the news proclaims that all should cry out mightily to God – and everyone, humans and animals should be covered in sackcloth. It’s hard not to see a comedic moment in all of this, the dogs, pigs and poultry of the town clad from head to tail (literally!) in sackcloth and parading about the town.
And God’s response? When he was what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity he was going to visit upon them - he changed his mind and didn’t do it.
Now you’d think at this point that Jonah would be pleased. Mission accomplished! Job well done! But no. He became very angry at God. He knows that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and ready to relent from punishing. He tells God that it would be better for him to die than live, and goes and sits in a booth outside the city and waits to see what will happen. So the Lord creates a bush to grow up over Jonah so that he will have shade and be saved from the harsh heat. And this makes Jonah happy. But the next day at dawn God appoints a worm to attack the bush and it withers and Jonah becomes faint with the heat. Again he tells God that it would be better for him to die than to live. The story ends with GOD calmly and compassionately making his point to Jonah: that he has become blinded by his anger to the enormous graciousness of God and the forgiveness shown to the city of Nineveh, the same graciousness shown to Jonah when he was saved from the sea. The evil of the Ninevites did not bring punishment which they deserved: they are saved because of the sincerity and wholeheartness of their repentance: because of the way in which they turned to God.
It’s hardly surprising that the story of the Ninevites is re-told at Jewish festivals as an example of true and complete repentance. But we often respond to stories like this in the same way that Jonah did: with righteous indignation. So often we struggle with the concept that "good people" can suffer while "bad people" appear to get away with it. However this story reminds us that it is the very nature of God to accept our repentance without question and to invite us back into relationship with God.
There is much discussion amongst scholars about the form, the genre of this little book. One biblical scholar even lists 20 different genres he can find within the story! 20 styles of writing in 4 short chapters, 1 and a half pages, now that’s a lot! But one thing they do agree on is that the story has comedic elements. It is meant to be laughed at. And the theological point is expounded to us as part of the comedy.
We could berate Jonah for his lack of faith or courage, for not following God’s call and immediately setting forth for Nineveh. But in some ways I think we can identify with him. He was given a mission impossible. Nineveh was one of the greatest cities of its day. It was a city of conquerors, a commercial powerhouse whose rulers lived lives of comparative luxury and indulgence. The Ninevites were not Israelites, why would they respond to a call from God to repent? I can see how Jonah might have felt that God was asking for just too much.
That’s why the good thing about this story is that God is able to make use of Jonah the reluctant hero to save Nineveh even in spite of himself. The amusing comedic moment in the story where Jonah is swallowed by the big fish and spewed back up on the beach three days later is evidence of Yahweh’s enormous grace and compassion. Jonah mightn’t be a perfect prophet, but God is able to use him all the same. God doesn’t just make use of the best of us – “best”, afterall, is a human standard. Before God we are all inadequate, and even our “best and brightest” often don’t get it, often don’t respond in the way God wants us to. And yet God responds to us with grace and compassion, which, even though it points out our foibles and often seems to pull the rug out from under our feet, is nevertheless the love of God drawing us to God.
Jonah is the reluctant prophet - it takes him three chapters to get to Nineveh. By contrast, it takes a very short 4 verses for the fishermen in Mark’s gospel, our second fishy story for the day, to leave their nets, their security, and their families to follow Jesus. In true Markan style, the fishermen respond immediately. The author tells us nothing of their inner deliberations, whether the fishing was good or bad, if they were religious people or not, if they got along with their father or wanted to get out of their home town and go and see the world. Mark merely says, “And immediately, they followed him.”
Not surprisingly, this connecting phrase, “and immediately,” is the most common phrase in Mark’s Gospel, occurring 33 times in only 16 chapters. It is a powerful phrase because it draws our attention to who Mark says Jesus is: when Jesus speaks, people immediately follow him, demons are immediately cast out, the diseased and disabled are immediately cured. In this context, “immediately” is not a symbol of perfect faith or obedience – it is a symbol of Jesus’ power, of his capacity to draw people to him and respond effectively to human need. “Immediately” highlights the power of Jesus’ call to discipleship.
When Jesus is calling these first disciples to follow him, what is he asking them to do exactly? The answer is found in the first two verses of our reading today when Jesus proclaims the Good News of the Kingdom. He says: the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.” This statement of Jesus, right at the outset of his ministry encapsulates for us the purpose of his entire ministry: to bring people to an awareness of the coming Kingdom, so that they can repent and respond to God’s gracious love. And the very action of Christ’s death on the cross is the action which makes possible our response, building a bridge across the chasm of human brokenness so that we can respond to God’s invitation into relationship that is the Kingdom.
If we think about the situations of our world right now, we can see all too clearly the need for God’s grace. Economic downturn, global warming, and war and chaos are but the most obvious examples. Everywhere, people seem to be in crisis – even our own Uniting church is facing difficult decisions concerning its life and mission. But instead of succumbing to despair or cynicism, or the perverse pleasure of seeing our predictions of doom come true, Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to focus on working towards the kingdom, toward being “fishers of men”. The call to discipleship is a call to hope: the waters in which we fish may indeed seem troubled, but then, Jesus never said: “Come follow me to a life of ease and comfort”.
Of course, it can sometimes seem all too hard – I can understand why a swift boat to some nice desert island somewhere (Chrystal clear blue waters, clean white sands…. palm trees) might sound much nicer than confronting some of the harsher realities of our time and place. Just as Jonah was a reluctant prophet, not wanting to answer God’s call, so might we be at this moment in history. But if ever our world needed to hear this story of grace and forgiveness, of God’s great love for all of us, not because we are good enough, or because we deserve it, but just because God desires a relationship with us, then surely this is the time.
Hi all,
After a busy summer of placements and preaching I thought it was time to publish something... so here is the sermon I preached this morning at Ashburton Uniting Church. You'll find BB's sermon on the same reading here.
Enjoy... it's nose back to the grindstone from this week!
Blessings
SB
Today we have two rather fishy stories. Jonah, famous for being eaten by a fish answers God’s call to speak with the people of Nineveh. And in Mark’s gospel the call of the disciples to give up their fishing nets and become “fisher’s of men.” Two very different stories of God’s call and human response which contrast with each other in interesting and rather surprising ways.
Jonah, a very short book of only a page and a half is one which we don’t tend to read very often. I reckon if we took a poll around this and other Uniting churches people would recognise that it’s the story of “Jonah and the Whale” but what happens before that? Why does he end up in the whale’s belly? And what does Jonah do once he’s released? It’s a vivid and interesting story which definitely bears re-telling, especially if you haven’t heard it since Sunday school! It also holds an eternal message which is just as relevant to us today as it was to its ancient audience.
The story begins with Jonah being called by God to be a prophet to the city of Nineveh, to cry out against their wickedness. Jonah is not keen on the idea.
Instead of going east to the city of Nineveh, Jonah gets on a boat and goes west towards Tarshish, as far away as he can from the call. God sends a great wind and a mighty storm blows up. Jonah is asleep down in the hold of the ship and the sailors go down to wake him up. They beg him to do something. They discover that Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the LORD who created the sea and the waves and decide finally to throw him overboard in the hope that the Lord will then calm the sea.
Once overboard, Jonah is swallowed by a big fish. He stays in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights during which time he prays to Yahweh acknowledging that God has responded to his plight and promising that he will give thanks on deliverance. At the end of chapter 2, just prior to today’s story, the LORD spoke to the fish, and, as the NRSV delicately puts it, the fish “spewed Jonah out upon dry land”.
After being saved from the belly of the big fish, comes the story which Andrew shared with us earlier. Jonah hears the call of the Lord a second time asking him to go to Nineveh. Jonah has been given a second chance. This time he heads straight off! We’re told that he walks across the city for three days and cries out: “Forty days more, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!” Instead of asking why this will happen, or indeed who is creating this catastrophe, we’re told that the Ninevites believed God, proclaimed a fast and put on sack cloth. The King on hearing the news proclaims that all should cry out mightily to God – and everyone, humans and animals should be covered in sackcloth. It’s hard not to see a comedic moment in all of this, the dogs, pigs and poultry of the town clad from head to tail (literally!) in sackcloth and parading about the town.
And God’s response? When he was what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity he was going to visit upon them - he changed his mind and didn’t do it.
Now you’d think at this point that Jonah would be pleased. Mission accomplished! Job well done! But no. He became very angry at God. He knows that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and ready to relent from punishing. He tells God that it would be better for him to die than live, and goes and sits in a booth outside the city and waits to see what will happen. So the Lord creates a bush to grow up over Jonah so that he will have shade and be saved from the harsh heat. And this makes Jonah happy. But the next day at dawn God appoints a worm to attack the bush and it withers and Jonah becomes faint with the heat. Again he tells God that it would be better for him to die than to live. The story ends with GOD calmly and compassionately making his point to Jonah: that he has become blinded by his anger to the enormous graciousness of God and the forgiveness shown to the city of Nineveh, the same graciousness shown to Jonah when he was saved from the sea. The evil of the Ninevites did not bring punishment which they deserved: they are saved because of the sincerity and wholeheartness of their repentance: because of the way in which they turned to God.
It’s hardly surprising that the story of the Ninevites is re-told at Jewish festivals as an example of true and complete repentance. But we often respond to stories like this in the same way that Jonah did: with righteous indignation. So often we struggle with the concept that "good people" can suffer while "bad people" appear to get away with it. However this story reminds us that it is the very nature of God to accept our repentance without question and to invite us back into relationship with God.
There is much discussion amongst scholars about the form, the genre of this little book. One biblical scholar even lists 20 different genres he can find within the story! 20 styles of writing in 4 short chapters, 1 and a half pages, now that’s a lot! But one thing they do agree on is that the story has comedic elements. It is meant to be laughed at. And the theological point is expounded to us as part of the comedy.
We could berate Jonah for his lack of faith or courage, for not following God’s call and immediately setting forth for Nineveh. But in some ways I think we can identify with him. He was given a mission impossible. Nineveh was one of the greatest cities of its day. It was a city of conquerors, a commercial powerhouse whose rulers lived lives of comparative luxury and indulgence. The Ninevites were not Israelites, why would they respond to a call from God to repent? I can see how Jonah might have felt that God was asking for just too much.
That’s why the good thing about this story is that God is able to make use of Jonah the reluctant hero to save Nineveh even in spite of himself. The amusing comedic moment in the story where Jonah is swallowed by the big fish and spewed back up on the beach three days later is evidence of Yahweh’s enormous grace and compassion. Jonah mightn’t be a perfect prophet, but God is able to use him all the same. God doesn’t just make use of the best of us – “best”, afterall, is a human standard. Before God we are all inadequate, and even our “best and brightest” often don’t get it, often don’t respond in the way God wants us to. And yet God responds to us with grace and compassion, which, even though it points out our foibles and often seems to pull the rug out from under our feet, is nevertheless the love of God drawing us to God.
Jonah is the reluctant prophet - it takes him three chapters to get to Nineveh. By contrast, it takes a very short 4 verses for the fishermen in Mark’s gospel, our second fishy story for the day, to leave their nets, their security, and their families to follow Jesus. In true Markan style, the fishermen respond immediately. The author tells us nothing of their inner deliberations, whether the fishing was good or bad, if they were religious people or not, if they got along with their father or wanted to get out of their home town and go and see the world. Mark merely says, “And immediately, they followed him.”
Not surprisingly, this connecting phrase, “and immediately,” is the most common phrase in Mark’s Gospel, occurring 33 times in only 16 chapters. It is a powerful phrase because it draws our attention to who Mark says Jesus is: when Jesus speaks, people immediately follow him, demons are immediately cast out, the diseased and disabled are immediately cured. In this context, “immediately” is not a symbol of perfect faith or obedience – it is a symbol of Jesus’ power, of his capacity to draw people to him and respond effectively to human need. “Immediately” highlights the power of Jesus’ call to discipleship.
When Jesus is calling these first disciples to follow him, what is he asking them to do exactly? The answer is found in the first two verses of our reading today when Jesus proclaims the Good News of the Kingdom. He says: the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.” This statement of Jesus, right at the outset of his ministry encapsulates for us the purpose of his entire ministry: to bring people to an awareness of the coming Kingdom, so that they can repent and respond to God’s gracious love. And the very action of Christ’s death on the cross is the action which makes possible our response, building a bridge across the chasm of human brokenness so that we can respond to God’s invitation into relationship that is the Kingdom.
If we think about the situations of our world right now, we can see all too clearly the need for God’s grace. Economic downturn, global warming, and war and chaos are but the most obvious examples. Everywhere, people seem to be in crisis – even our own Uniting church is facing difficult decisions concerning its life and mission. But instead of succumbing to despair or cynicism, or the perverse pleasure of seeing our predictions of doom come true, Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to focus on working towards the kingdom, toward being “fishers of men”. The call to discipleship is a call to hope: the waters in which we fish may indeed seem troubled, but then, Jesus never said: “Come follow me to a life of ease and comfort”.
Of course, it can sometimes seem all too hard – I can understand why a swift boat to some nice desert island somewhere (Chrystal clear blue waters, clean white sands…. palm trees) might sound much nicer than confronting some of the harsher realities of our time and place. Just as Jonah was a reluctant prophet, not wanting to answer God’s call, so might we be at this moment in history. But if ever our world needed to hear this story of grace and forgiveness, of God’s great love for all of us, not because we are good enough, or because we deserve it, but just because God desires a relationship with us, then surely this is the time.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Some of my photos have been published!
Hi there,
A couple of my photos of Cardiff were chosen from Flickr to be part of a map which is downloadable to an iphone - the site is called Schmap. You can view my photos on the page in the sidebar on this blog or else from the website here.
I'll be putting a lot more photos on flickr in the coming months so if you're interested you can access my photostream here.
I hope that 2009 is a happy and healthy one for us all.
Blessings,
SB
A couple of my photos of Cardiff were chosen from Flickr to be part of a map which is downloadable to an iphone - the site is called Schmap. You can view my photos on the page in the sidebar on this blog or else from the website here.
I'll be putting a lot more photos on flickr in the coming months so if you're interested you can access my photostream here.
I hope that 2009 is a happy and healthy one for us all.
Blessings,
SB
Thursday, December 04, 2008
'Tis the Season to be Jolly!
You gotta love a bit of Nativity Kitsch! A friend posted a link to this on Facebook and I thought it was worth sharing. My particular fave: The Leprechaun Nativity - although the snow dome nativity is a close second - I just love a good snow dome!
You can find the site here. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
Hey,
Tonight mum and I went to see the film The Duchess. It was superb! Beautifully filmed, well acted and a powerful, moving, sad story. Well worth a look!
I went to her home at Chatsworth when I was teaching in the UK in 2002 - it was stunning. I must look out the photos!
The website of Amanda Foreman who wrote the book is here. You can see a trailer for the film there.
Anyway - back to study and essay writing. Was nice to have some time out though.
Catch you round.
SB
Tonight mum and I went to see the film The Duchess. It was superb! Beautifully filmed, well acted and a powerful, moving, sad story. Well worth a look!
I went to her home at Chatsworth when I was teaching in the UK in 2002 - it was stunning. I must look out the photos!
The website of Amanda Foreman who wrote the book is here. You can see a trailer for the film there.
Anyway - back to study and essay writing. Was nice to have some time out though.
Catch you round.
SB
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Psalms: The Church's prayerbook
Hey all,
Life has been busy - hence no posting!! Still no time really, but here is a quick post!
We've been doing a wonderful course in Prayer and Spirituality on Fridays this semester. A few weeks ago we did a wonderful session about Praying with the Psalms with Rev Professor Howard Wallace - he's just published a number of books on the Psalms, so he was really able to bring them alive for us.
At the end of it we were asked to write a prayer ourselves in the shape of a Psalm. Despite being an erstwhile English teacher I'm not usually good at this kind of stuff - but here's my contribution. I'd be interested to hear your feedback.
Praise, praise to you, O God of the earth,
for you have created the cosmos and all that is in it.
Praise, Praise to you, O God of the Mountains
You are greater than my strife, more powerful than my tormentors.
Praise, Praise to you O God of the rivers
You bring life giving water to crop and beast.
Who am I Lord, to approach one so mighty-
To ask for help form my creator?
Yet you were with me at the hour of my birth
You knew me before I knew myself.
You understand the deepest desires of my heart, even when I cannot utter them.
O Lord, I rejoice in you, my creator,
God of Heaven and earth
For you are greater than my tormentors
You have known me since the beginning of time.
Blessings to you all,
SB
Life has been busy - hence no posting!! Still no time really, but here is a quick post!
We've been doing a wonderful course in Prayer and Spirituality on Fridays this semester. A few weeks ago we did a wonderful session about Praying with the Psalms with Rev Professor Howard Wallace - he's just published a number of books on the Psalms, so he was really able to bring them alive for us.
At the end of it we were asked to write a prayer ourselves in the shape of a Psalm. Despite being an erstwhile English teacher I'm not usually good at this kind of stuff - but here's my contribution. I'd be interested to hear your feedback.
Praise, praise to you, O God of the earth,
for you have created the cosmos and all that is in it.
Praise, Praise to you, O God of the Mountains
You are greater than my strife, more powerful than my tormentors.
Praise, Praise to you O God of the rivers
You bring life giving water to crop and beast.
Who am I Lord, to approach one so mighty-
To ask for help form my creator?
Yet you were with me at the hour of my birth
You knew me before I knew myself.
You understand the deepest desires of my heart, even when I cannot utter them.
O Lord, I rejoice in you, my creator,
God of Heaven and earth
For you are greater than my tormentors
You have known me since the beginning of time.
Blessings to you all,
SB
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Intricate beauty
Hey,
I've popped this photo on flickr - just looking at it again - amazing to think about how intricate God's creation is....
Hope you're all well - will post something a little more deep soon - I promise! :-)
SB
I've popped this photo on flickr - just looking at it again - amazing to think about how intricate God's creation is....
Hope you're all well - will post something a little more deep soon - I promise! :-)
SB
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Iona Graveyard
Looking back towards the Island of Mull through the Iona Abbey graveyard, burial place of the Scottish kings - including Macbeth!
Iona Abbey is a "thin place" where I felt very close to God.
Iona Abbey is a "thin place" where I felt very close to God.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Actions speak louder than words.....
One of the joys of Theological Hall is that I get to hear numerous sermons on the same lectionary readings each week. This week I heard 3 sermons, in addition to mine, reproduced below. Enjoy!
SB
Since I started thinking about the lectionary readings for today, two things have been going through my head. Firstly the song: “the wise man built his house upon a rock” and secondly visions of myself as a six year old playing with a Noah’s ark set in Sunday School. I can’t for the life of me remember there being any theological significance to these stories from those early days: but the stories are in my head. For those of us who’ve been around churches for a long time the images we have of these stories from our early childhood are deeply imbedded in our minds: but have we thought since about what they might mean? Do they have any more to offer us than being nice stories we remember fondly from childhood?
The first thing that strikes me is that both of these stories are particularly fitting given the world has just experienced two horrific natural disasters in the last few weeks: the terrible cyclone in the poor country of Burma - a country already living under the control of an oppressive military junta - and the tragic earthquake in Sichuan province in China. Although there is great wealth developing in the big industrialised megalopolises of the Beijing and Shanghai, the areas worst hit by this disaster are poor villages in remote rural areas. And the biggest victims are children trapped inside shoddily built school buildings. Certainly not ones built by wise men on firm foundations. We hear these stories of epic biblical natural disasters at a time when our near neighbours are suffering from similar events. How do we make sense of these two biblical stories in our world today?
Both of these stories - the story of Noah’s Ark and the story of the wise man who build his house upon a rock - are stories of action. In the Noah story, God has had enough: in Gen 6:11 we hear that the earth was corrupt in God’s sight; the earth was filled with violence. God needed to do something: to perform an action in order to wipe away all that he was so unhappy with. And so he chose Noah, a righteous man, blameless in his generation - in fact, the story tells us that Noah was a man who walked with God. God established a covenant with Noah. He asked Noah to build an ark to shelter his family and two of all of the animals of every kind that walk the earth. God promised Noah that he will keep them alive.
An ark apparently was not a great big safe boat which could withstand terrible storms and rough seas. The same Hebrew word is used for the small basket in which the baby Moses was placed in the story in Exodus. The word ark describes a vessel capable of floating in order to deliver its occupants from danger. Strictly speaking the ark was not a boat, for it lacked both a means of power and a steering mechanism. Therefore the course it took and its ability to deliver its occupants were completely under God’s direction. Noah, the one who walked with God did all that God commanded him. And God kept his covenant with him and kept him safe.
Unfortunately this action of Noah and of God was not enough to change the world: it did not rid it of violence permanently. If we fast forward to the New Testament we again see God in action. Once again the people are not able to keep their covenant with God: as Paul tells the Romans in the epistle reading for today: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is no righteous man who God can rely on as he did in Noah’s time to build an ark. However in the very next verse, Paul reminds us that God acts in our lives just as he did for Noah and his family. Paul writes that even though they are sinners, the Romans are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. God’s action in our time is to offer us the free gift of his grace: we can enter into relationship with God through the death of Jesus. Not because we deserve it: we have fallen short of the glory of God just as the Israelites of Noah’s time had done. We have no grounds on which to boast.
Jesus is like a new Noah sent by God to act in the world. The early and medieval churches saw Jesus as a new Noah sent to save the world from its self. There are paintings in the catacombs from the very earliest days of the church which depict Jesus as the new Noah, the one who makes a new covenant with God on our behalf.
However Jesus speaking in the reading from Matthew takes this further. In this story it is clear that accepting the gift alone is not enough. If you hear the word and do nothing else, then you deceive yourself. The point of hearing is not hearing: the point of hearing is doing.
So how do we build a house on a rock, an ark? We do this by developing a strong relationship with God. We do this by ACTIVELY practicing living graciously towards others. A Sunday school faith with simple answers is not enough. In order to build a house upon a rock that can withstand the storms of life we must actively deepen and develop our faith. Just hearing is not enough. We must “do” – faith must become a “lived” experience.
How we treat others reveals how deep or shallow our Christian foundations are: whether they are sunk deeply into the bedrock of God’s love or shallowly in sand. To have deep foundations is to have deeply received the wonder of God’s acceptance of us. In accepting that there is nothing we can do which will make us worthy to accept the gift of God we can begin to absorb that grace into the way we act towards others. It may take a long time, but as we learn to love God and ourselves more deeply, we become empowered to love others more compassionately and generously.
How then do these two biblical stories make sense of the suffering in Burma and China? God calls us to act here too with grace and love. We build a house on a rock, or an ark like Noah if we respond to God’s call to us to treat those who are suffering with grace and love. As the retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said: God has no hands but our hands, no feet but our feet.
Because acting on God’s word is about bringing God’s hope to suffering humanity. And hope is behind the story of Noah’s Ark. After the wildest storms imaginable Noah, his family and all of the animals are finally delivered. God remembers Noah. Once this action occurs the storms abate and the waters finally recede. Yet it is months before they can finally walk on dry land. Noah sends out a dove, and on its second journey the dove ventures afar and returns, a living sprig in its beak. Noah’s entire world of life had been reduced to the seething mass of life, and his hope is reduced to this: a tiny branch with the teeniest green growth – providing hope that new life and growth was occurring somewhere nearby - hope that the waters would recede and they could leave the Ark because God had kept the covenant he had made with Noah. The story of Noah is like a second creation story: with God re-creating the world as God had intended it to be.
Just as God is faithful to Noah, so he is faithful to us in our time. God keeps God’s promises – Christ’s death and resurrection invites us into the fullness of relationship with God. However we are also called to act: it is not enough to hear God’s good news and sit back and do nothing. We are called to be like the Noah’s of our day, loving God’s creation, helping to save people and creatures in distress and helping the world to move into God’s promised future.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Times Online: Top 20 Religious T-Shirts
Now here's a bit of fun - the top 20 religious T-Shirts on one of the blogs on the Times online religion and faith website. You can check them out here. Incidentally the Times online Faith and Religion page is a really good site for keeping up to date on all sorts of international religious matters: the main page is here.
While I'm at it you can also keep up with the Times Literary Supplement here.
The Times Education Supplement site is here. It is just one of MANY fantastic English teacher's websites with lots of brilliant resources that can be altered for an Australian context. Also really good if you want to look at teaching in the UK - a worthwhile experience to have!
Now better get back to my Greek homework.... if procrastination was a uni subject I'd get a High Distinction! :-)
Talk later,
SB
While I'm at it you can also keep up with the Times Literary Supplement here.
The Times Education Supplement site is here. It is just one of MANY fantastic English teacher's websites with lots of brilliant resources that can be altered for an Australian context. Also really good if you want to look at teaching in the UK - a worthwhile experience to have!
Now better get back to my Greek homework.... if procrastination was a uni subject I'd get a High Distinction! :-)
Talk later,
SB
Thursday, May 01, 2008
More China Pix
Here are a few more photos of China - this time of the Li River - scene of the famous "camera overboard" incident. These photos taken afterwards, on the school camera! You can really see where the misty black and white chinese watercolour landscapes come from.
This one is of the caves in Guilin - truly spectacular.
SB
Saturday, April 26, 2008
It must be essay writing time again.....
I'm supposed to be writing an essay about women and their head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11.... so what's the perfect procrastination device? Internet quizzes!
So much more satisfying that what I used to do to avoid essay writing - less ironing gets done but who cares???
Talk to you soon
SB
Which Jane Austin heroine are you??
Fanny Price
You are smart and shy, a quiet beauty with brains that intimidate everyone around you. You often feel out of place, homeless and alone. As an intellectual idealist, you long to be heard and understood, but rarely waste your time trying to defend yourself to those who could not possibly understand. Time and experience is making you bolder. Despite your clever genius, you long for simplicity, and the love of your soul mate, who is a socially surprising and unlikely match.
So much more satisfying that what I used to do to avoid essay writing - less ironing gets done but who cares???
Talk to you soon
SB
Which Jane Austin heroine are you??
Fanny Price
You are smart and shy, a quiet beauty with brains that intimidate everyone around you. You often feel out of place, homeless and alone. As an intellectual idealist, you long to be heard and understood, but rarely waste your time trying to defend yourself to those who could not possibly understand. Time and experience is making you bolder. Despite your clever genius, you long for simplicity, and the love of your soul mate, who is a socially surprising and unlikely match.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
More China commentary (WITH PHOTOS!)
Hi Folks,
BB is beginning to post his responses to China - they make for interesting reading! Whilst I don't agree with everything he says (that would make life rather boring, wouldn't it ;-) his insights make for very interesting and thought provoking reading. BB comes at China with fresh eyes: after 11 or so trips I often don't notice stuff, or rather I notice change - many of the difficult bits I just accept in rather a Chinese way - I can't change it so I may as well accept it as it is.
So for interesting reading I recommend BB's China posts, you can read them here.
Here too are a few photos of China, taken on the school camera. We've also got video footage and in the next week or so I'm looking forward to getting CDs with all of the kids pictures on them so that we can make up a digital tour album. Not as good as having BB's pics - but nearly!
See you soon,
Sandy
Saturday, April 05, 2008
SB & BB et al arrive home safely
Hi everyone!
We arrived home safely this morning with Gary and all 21 kiddlie winks! A fantastic time was had by all.
Last couple of days involved a casualty - BB slipped on the VERY wet deck of the boat, hit his wrist on the railing and our camera fell into the Li River - along with all of the beautiful photos he had taken! I'm quite cross with myself that I hadn't downloaded them onto my ipod - but if I've learned a hard lesson it's probably no bad thing! At least we'll still have the kids pix so there'll be some to show. Still, if that's the worst that happened in 24 days overseas with 21 kids I'm well and truly glad!
Many thanks for all of the comments and messages along the way. Hopefully I'll post a few photos off the school camera tomorrow once I've had some sleep! BB will probably post to his blog soon - he has some fascinating comments to make. Well worth a peek! His site is: www.comfycouchconfessions.blogspot.com
Lots of love to you all, see you soon in REAL time!
Hugs
SB XX
We arrived home safely this morning with Gary and all 21 kiddlie winks! A fantastic time was had by all.
Last couple of days involved a casualty - BB slipped on the VERY wet deck of the boat, hit his wrist on the railing and our camera fell into the Li River - along with all of the beautiful photos he had taken! I'm quite cross with myself that I hadn't downloaded them onto my ipod - but if I've learned a hard lesson it's probably no bad thing! At least we'll still have the kids pix so there'll be some to show. Still, if that's the worst that happened in 24 days overseas with 21 kids I'm well and truly glad!
Many thanks for all of the comments and messages along the way. Hopefully I'll post a few photos off the school camera tomorrow once I've had some sleep! BB will probably post to his blog soon - he has some fascinating comments to make. Well worth a peek! His site is: www.comfycouchconfessions.blogspot.com
Lots of love to you all, see you soon in REAL time!
Hugs
SB XX
Monday, March 31, 2008
A Long days travel to Guilin
Hi everyone!
I'm sorry that the last post came out in gobbledy gook- I think I was typing in English in a Chinese font. Sorry about that!
We had a wonderful time at the Cambridge school in Hanzhong. We met up with old friends who have visited here as well as making some new ones. We taught 9 40 min classes on saturday and 8 on sunday - so we're pretty exausted by the end! In all we were able to talk with 3,000 students - not a bad effort for 2 days work huh!
Our kids were amazing! They took to teaching like naturals! It was fantastic to watch. The biggest hit of the visit was one BB - who was adored by all - particularly some of the young girls who made him a number of gifts! I have some fantastic footage of him being mobbed by a whole lot of little people - It's worth a look! He's had a wonderful time and was very touched by the experience. The whole thing was filmed, as was our 2006 visit - so it's now going to be played at the school every weekend, as well as on Hanzhong television! Pretty cool huh! It may even go onto the net at some stage - if so I'll post it so you can check us out.
This morning we got up at 4.30, said a tearful farewell to our friends and headed off back to Xi'an (5 hour bus trip) to catch a plane to Guilin. We've visited a couple of scenic spots and some of the kids have headed off shopping with Gary - and the boys are playing Mahjong with BB. I'm going to head off to do some work on my Greek!!
Tomoorow we're off to catch a boat on the Li river to Yangshuo - promises to be a great day. Will try to blog once more before we catch the plane home on Friday night. Will be home Saturday.
Hugs and love to you all!
SB XX
I'm sorry that the last post came out in gobbledy gook- I think I was typing in English in a Chinese font. Sorry about that!
We had a wonderful time at the Cambridge school in Hanzhong. We met up with old friends who have visited here as well as making some new ones. We taught 9 40 min classes on saturday and 8 on sunday - so we're pretty exausted by the end! In all we were able to talk with 3,000 students - not a bad effort for 2 days work huh!
Our kids were amazing! They took to teaching like naturals! It was fantastic to watch. The biggest hit of the visit was one BB - who was adored by all - particularly some of the young girls who made him a number of gifts! I have some fantastic footage of him being mobbed by a whole lot of little people - It's worth a look! He's had a wonderful time and was very touched by the experience. The whole thing was filmed, as was our 2006 visit - so it's now going to be played at the school every weekend, as well as on Hanzhong television! Pretty cool huh! It may even go onto the net at some stage - if so I'll post it so you can check us out.
This morning we got up at 4.30, said a tearful farewell to our friends and headed off back to Xi'an (5 hour bus trip) to catch a plane to Guilin. We've visited a couple of scenic spots and some of the kids have headed off shopping with Gary - and the boys are playing Mahjong with BB. I'm going to head off to do some work on my Greek!!
Tomoorow we're off to catch a boat on the Li river to Yangshuo - promises to be a great day. Will try to blog once more before we catch the plane home on Friday night. Will be home Saturday.
Hugs and love to you all!
SB XX
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Hanzhong China
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for your commenｔｓ! Ｗｅ'ｒｅ ｉｎ Ｈａｎｚｈｏｎｇ ｗｈｉｃｈ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｉｎｔｈｅ ｃｅｎｔｒｅ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎａ. Ｗｅ ｓｐｅｎｔ ２ ｄａｙｓ ｉｎ Ｘｉ'ａｎａｎｄ Ｂｒｅｎｄａｎ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｔｈｅ Ｗａｒｒｉｏｒｓ． Ｈｅ ｓａｙｓ ｔｈｅｙ ｗｅｒｅ ａｓｔｏｎｉｓｈｉｎｇ ａｎｄ ｔｈａｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｎｏ ｗｏｒｄｓ ｔｏ ｄｅｓｃｉｂｅ ｔｈｅｍ． Ｗｅ ａｌｓｏ ｗｅｎｔ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ Ｓｈａｎｘｉ ｍｕｓｅｕｍ．
Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｎｏｗ ｉｎ Ｈａｎｚｈｏｎｇ ｖｉｓｉｔｉｎｇ ｏｕｒ ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｓｃｈｏｏｌ ｈｅｒｅ． Ｗｅ＇ ｖｅ ｈａｄ ｏｕｒ ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ ｃｌａｓｓ ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ －ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ８ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ！ ＷＥ＇ｒｅ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｆｉｌｍｅｄ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｏｎｔｏ ｌｏｃａｌ ＴＶ！
Ｓｏｒｒｙ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｆｏｎｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ －Ｉ ｃａｎ＇ｔ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｉｔ！Gotta go too!
Lots of Love
Sandy and Brendan XX
Thanks for your commenｔｓ! Ｗｅ'ｒｅ ｉｎ Ｈａｎｚｈｏｎｇ ｗｈｉｃｈ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｉｎｔｈｅ ｃｅｎｔｒｅ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎａ. Ｗｅ ｓｐｅｎｔ ２ ｄａｙｓ ｉｎ Ｘｉ'ａｎａｎｄ Ｂｒｅｎｄａｎ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｔｈｅ Ｗａｒｒｉｏｒｓ． Ｈｅ ｓａｙｓ ｔｈｅｙ ｗｅｒｅ ａｓｔｏｎｉｓｈｉｎｇ ａｎｄ ｔｈａｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｎｏ ｗｏｒｄｓ ｔｏ ｄｅｓｃｉｂｅ ｔｈｅｍ． Ｗｅ ａｌｓｏ ｗｅｎｔ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ Ｓｈａｎｘｉ ｍｕｓｅｕｍ．
Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｎｏｗ ｉｎ Ｈａｎｚｈｏｎｇ ｖｉｓｉｔｉｎｇ ｏｕｒ ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｓｃｈｏｏｌ ｈｅｒｅ． Ｗｅ＇ ｖｅ ｈａｄ ｏｕｒ ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ ｃｌａｓｓ ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ －ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ８ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ！ ＷＥ＇ｒｅ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｆｉｌｍｅｄ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｏｎｔｏ ｌｏｃａｌ ＴＶ！
Ｓｏｒｒｙ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｆｏｎｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ －Ｉ ｃａｎ＇ｔ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｉｔ！Gotta go too!
Lots of Love
Sandy and Brendan XX
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