Anderson's Blog

Delight is..................

2012-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

"Delight is a secret. And the secret is this: to grow quiet and listen; to stop thinking, stop moving, almost to stop breathing; to create an inner stillness in which, like mice in a deserted house, capacities and awarenesses too wayward and too fugitive for everyday use may delicately emerge. Oh, welcome them home! For these are the long-lost children of the human mind. Give them close and loving attention, for they are weakened by centuries of neglect. In return they will open your eyes to a new world within the known world, they will take your hand, as children do, and bring you to where life is always nascent, day is always dawning. Suddenly and miraculously, as you walk home in the dark, you are aware of the insubstantial shimmering essence that lies within appearances; the air is filled with expectancy, alive with meaning; the stranger, gliding by in the lamp-lit street, carries silently past you in the night the whole mystery of his life...
Delight springs from this awareness of the translucent quality in all things, whereby beauty as well as ugliness, joy as well as pain, men as well as women, life as well as death -- the grinding clash of opposites between whose iron teeth all systems of philosophy are crushed at last to pulp -- are seen as symbols; in the true meaning of a symbol, whose Janus-like face contains at once that which exists in time and space, and that which transcends it."

--Alan McGlashan, The Savage and Beautiful Country, Houghton Mifflin, 1967

Baptism of Christ

2012-01-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Gospel Reading:Mark 1 4-10

ThomasMerton a Catholic Priest wrote these words

MyLord God I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. Icannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and thefact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I amactually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in factplease you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that Iwill never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this youwill lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Thereforewill I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow ofdeath. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave meto face my perils alone.

TheGospels were not just thrown together, and neither are they just collections ofbits of information passed down over many years about Jesus. Rather they arevery carefully written literary works and the authors had specific objectivesin mind, which they wanted their readers to understand.

TheGospel of Mark was most probably the first to be written, perhaps thirty yearsor so after Jesus died. In these opening verses of Chapter 1 we are given aclear indication of what it is that the author wants his readers to know aboutJesus.
Note that there is no mention of the nativity stories which we find in Luke andMatthew. We cannot be sure whether or not Mark knew stories about the birth ofJesus, but clearly he had a structure in his mind for this Gospel which did notneed to include them.

The Gospel of Mark has both a clear beginning and end, with beautifully craftedchapters in the middle.

This middle bit is divided carefully into stories about the life and teachingof Jesus and stories about his passion and death. These are carefully separatedby the episode on the mountain which we call the Transfiguration, where Jesusis seen speaking with Moses and Elijah. Just as that episode showed theapproval of the Old Testament Law and Prophets upon Jesus, so in the opening ofthe Gospel,

Mark wishesto demonstrate the authenticity of Jesus as validated by the Old Testament. Solet’s take a look at the passage!

It isunfortunate that the reading today misses out the first verses of the chapterwhich begins ‘The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’1:1.
That is an emphatic statement about who the author wants you to believe Jesusreally is. It is also reminiscent of the opening verses of the Old Testament.Imagine the author putting his writing on the same footing as Genesis!

Bothpassages are about creation: Genesis deal with the creation of the universe andMark with the new creation in which we participate as believers in Jesus’gospel. Mark wanted to show that with Jesus came a new beginning, he was theone that the Jews had been promised throughout their history recorded in theOld Testament.

This isshown again in verse 2 when Mark quotes the words of the prophet Isaiah. It iswritten in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, whowill prepare your way"--"a voice of one calling in the desert,'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" John theBaptist is the link between the old and the new. He fulfills Isaiah’s prophecyand he is himself a prophetic figure. In dress and message he is especiallyreminiscent of the prophet Elijah.

TheBaptism.

There ismuch which we could say about the baptism of Jesus. Jesus is seen at this timepublicly demonstrating the type of ministry which he has chosen. When webaptise a baby, it is more than putting off of the old self, it is a putting onof the new, perhaps this is made more explicit when we baptise a baby which itis hard to recognise as steeped in sin. So too the baptism of Jesus is not awashing away of the past, but rather a putting on of the new, preparing himselffor the great task, setting out his style of ministry

Thebaptism of Jesus shows God entering flesh and become one of us. At his baptismJesus goes down into the waters with us. Privilege and power can removepowerful political and religious leaders from the people they are called toserve. The ordinary person can feel leaders live in a very different world. ButJesus enters the waters this day, comes up close to us, lets the waters thatcovered the repentant sinners flow over him. He takes what is weak andwavering, makes us his disciples and strengthens us who would follow him.

Thebaptism of Jesus is also a symbol of his death, here is the one who came"not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom formany." Baptism is a defining moment and Jesus is recognised by God ashaving chosen the right course for his life. What he sees and hears will bringGod’s life and energy to his ministry. .

Imentioned that the author of the Gospel makes a clear beginning in thisepisode, we can note the way in which this is related to the ending. There mustsurely be a connection in the mind of the author of the Gospel of Mark betweenthe tearing of the heavens at the baptism of Jesus (Mk 1:10) and the tearing ofthe temple veil at the death of Jesus (Mk 15:38). In the dramatic moment whenthe sky was torn apart, Mark makes the point that the old world order is beingripped up by God and a new age has come.

Sowhat are we to learn from this?

Iwonder how your eyesight is this morning?

JohnWesley the founder of the Methodist movement said this of the spirituality hewanted those who joined the Methodists to follow …. the one desire of his life”(a Methodist’s) shall be “to do not his own will, but the will of Him that senthim; his one intention at all times and in all things is, not to pleasehimself, but Him whom his soul loveth. He has the single eye.” I really likethat phrase, the single eye, suggesting as it does, an ability to focus on justone thing, the most important thing.

It is a very real problem when you have a great many material possessions, asmost of us do, that our attention is constantly being distracted from importantmatters.

Wehave television, DVDs, video, radio, the telephone, we have texts and email andthe Internet. We live at a highly privileged time in history. We don’t for themost part have to worry much about lack of food, we certainly don’t have toforage for it, or hunt or grow it.

Wearen’t under pressure about the rains failing or the health of the harvest. Welive longer and healthier lives than any generation before us.

Arewe making use of the time that our culture has allowed us?

Donot most of us live in constant search of distraction, from reality television,soap operas, music, shopping, gossip?

Allthese ephemeral things absorb our interest only fleetingly before we flit offto the next temporary preoccupation.

I expect people in the Puritan era or Wesley’s eighteenth century had theirdistractions too. I expect, instead of watching soaps, people gossiped aboutthe aristocracy. Instead of watching Celebrity Big Brother they went to abearbaiting or a cockfight. Perhaps the banning of dancing and Christmas was anattempt to make people focus on God and important things.

Thetrouble is that kind of bullying doesn’t work. I don’t think God wants forcedrecruits, He wants volunteers. You can’t shove other people into a rightrelation with God.

Aswe start this New Year it’s time we all sat down and self-exanimated ourrelationship with God. Are we back-sliding, do we suffer from spirituallaziness, are we having a daily time of spiritual nourishment, reading the bible,praying - these are the things we need to be doing each day without fail elseour spiritual life will die we will wonder from the path that God has setbefore us.

Weneed to let go of control and acknowledging God’s power over our lives. In ourage we want to be seen with the right crowd, we want Mrs Jones to see us goingto church, would we want her to see us talking to the Big Issue seller in RamsWalk though?

Arewe submitting our lives to God’s will in how and where we serve him, or are wemaking God in our own image and telling God how he will serve us? Sometimes Godmight seem not to want our service! A friend who was ordained with me, had MEfor about six months and wrote to tell me that he had found that his inactivitymight as much a part of God’s plan as activity. That God might desire ourwillingness to be patient and wait upon Him – this is very hard though!

Ithink today we must freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to God’spleasure and disposal. It marks a total giving over of self into God’s hands,to be used or not as He chooses. It takes incredible courage to acknowledgethat God has the power over us and courage to offer ourselves, not just as andwhen we feel like it, but as God requires.

We gain far more than we are giving. The great conundrum of self-giving is thatwe gamble ourselves and always win. But giving over of power takes courage.Right at the end of the Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail film, Indie, the hero,has to step out into what appears to be an empty space, over a bottomlesscanyon. Only faith and courage allows him to do anything so stupid, but ofcourse he is right to make the leap of faith and so are we. Can we as a churchand individuals promise again to make the leap of faith and to give ourselveswithout knowing the outcome, what it will mean, where it might take us. But wehave our tradition, the experience of those who have gone before us, toencourage us to step out into the future.

I’m now going to conclude with a prayer, onlysay amen if you really agree with it

I am no longer my own but yours.

Your will, not mine, be done in all things,
wherever you may place me, in all that I do
and in all that I may endure;
when there is work for me and when there is none;
when I am troubled and when I am at peace.
Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded;
when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I have all things,
and when I have nothing. I willingly offer all I have and am
to serve you, as and where you choose. Glorious and blessèd God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
May it be so for ever.
Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.

interpretation of the bible - Interfaith

2012-01-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

It is important to understanding the role of interpretation when reading anytext. "One cannot pick up an English Bible and say "...the Biblesays..." because often it really doesn't say what we might think it saysin translation. All we can say at the most is "This translation of the Bible says...Weall interpret God's word differently, how sacred stories are not what God saidto us verbatim, but as human attempts to describe intimate, indescribablemoments of connection with God. They are about how we see God and how werespond to an awareness of God. Since different communities meet Goddifferently, it doesn't offend me that religious stories will always differ,and indeed often contradict.
interfaith dialogue has changed throughout the ages, from the antagonism ofthe Corinthians passage to today where we actively explore the religioustraditions of other faiths. "By doing this, we're inviting other people toexplain an aspect of God that we previously had not understood. Interfaith dialogue then becomes thepurest vehicle for understanding God's will and is in my view very exciting!

If we choose to try and engage with interfaith and explore how other faithssee God, then we could view God as a white light that when passed through theprism of life. Each faith community gets gifted with one particular colour oflight, to only explore that one colour would not allow us full access to theoriginal source, the full mystical power that is God.

Abortion a personal view

2011-12-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

I knew the moment he walked in the door, I did not like him, he did not have to speak, my mind, my soul told me something about him made me feel uneasy, but why, I didn’t even know his name or anything about him, it was odd!

The following Sunday I was sitting in church with my mum, when the same man walked in, I felt the same uneasy feeling, I pointed him out to mum, she went quite, then said ‘we need to talk about this when we get home’.

It turns out this man was my mum’s consultant during her pregnancy, he suggested that she should have me aborted as she was in her forties, there was a higher risk of me having some form of disability or deformity. Mum and Dad thought it through, seeing, as I was so unexpected I was a gift from God for them, where there is life it has to be born, that was Mum’s view.

I am no doctor, but I am sure that babies can hear/sense things in the womb, what other reason could there be for me feeling uneasy about the man?

Abortion, like any other ethical issue, there are no black and white answers only shades of grey, I accept there are many occasions where abortion may be the best route in cases of rape, but I think in every situation I’d want to say, like my Mum said about me, where’s there’s life there should be birth.

Thinking Out side of the box

2011-11-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Imagine Jesus comes knocking on your door, you invite him in, you ring around your close friends, neighbours, in fact everyone you know, especially the Vicar! You naturally tell Jesus to make himself at home, so he begins to invite his friends over to your place, now think of the Gospels and think who Jesus mixed with, those on the margins of society and to our minds those who are less than respectability, he invites them all into your house, suddenly this Jesus who you thought was lovely becomes a major headache, you find him to be too much of a radical, he mixes with people you don't like, people you think are below you, people who certainly should not be in touching distance of
the Vicar!

You can't throw Jesus out that would be wrong, after all what would the neighbours think! So you decide to find a suitable cupboard clear it out and make it look nice, you find a strong lock and you invite Jesus to get inside, once in you lock it, on top of the cupboard you place some candles and some nice flowers and maybe a suitable icon, each time you walk past you bow reverently at it, you now have the best of both worlds, you have Jesus, but you have him under control, no more interfering!

Now you might think this story is funny, but isn't this how we treat Jesus ourselves, we want people to notice we attend church but yet we fail to allow Jesus into our lives totally, we fail to let him have
his way in our lives, this Christmas is a time to reflect on how much of our lives we give to Jesus, lets invite him in afresh or for the first time and give ourselves something money can't buy, a personal
gift from God, eternal life.

The Allah of Islam is the same as the God of Christians and the Ishwar of Hindus.

2011-11-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

An interesting question this is, see my reply below:

I've done a lot of thinking other this question and have come to the conclusion that there is One God behind the various names we associate with the gods of our religions,I'd like to get into dialogue with peoples of other faiths and start searching our holy scriptures for those things which we hold in common and learn to love each other and respect each others faith stories, I'm unable to see how a Divine God could or would stop people of other faiths entering into heaven just because they are not Christian, after all Jesus never said he was a Christian, did he?

Harvest Evensong Sermon

2011-10-03T04:46:00.001-07:00

Reading 1John 2:1-11

When I received the hymn the list for October I breathed a sigh of relief, we were not singing we plough the field and scatter, that hymn invokes fear in me as at school we had to keep singing it as we could never get it right, mainly due to the fact we had alterative words to it!

So…………..

Come, ye thankful people come… We ourselves are God’s own field!

Harvest is a time to thank God for his bountiful provision for us each day, yet have you thought that as you bring your offering up, you also bring yourselves.

Each one of us is part of God’s own field, each one of us loved, known and made by God, is this not something to be thankful for?

In the first epistle from the apostle John, he reminds us without doubt that Christ IS our advocate in heaven, he’s on our side, Satan is our accuser he Is demanding our death yet in Christ we have the best defence lawyer in the universe who is pleading our case before God,

Christ has suffered beyond words for our sins, therefore if we are TRULY sorry for our past wrongs than God Will and does forgive us. Now that has to be something to be REALLY thankful for, doesn’t it?

Sharing the Good news

So as God’s forgiven people what are we going to do with this Good News, keep it to ourselves might be good, saves people coming in here mucking up our nice comfortable lives, good plan don’t you think?

Sorry…… NO it’s not

Our faith is ours to give away, to share with others around us, one question I ask those who wish their child to be baptised is this…. What aspects of the Christian faith do you most want your child to pick up…?

Many say to be nice to others,

Know right from wrong

Know God better

All good things but splashing their child with water and signing them with a cross can’t achieve this; it’s just the starting place, the Christian faith is a journey and we need like the crops in the field to nurture and tend to those new and old to the faith, to allow God to envelop us totally not just our minds but our hearts also.

In verse 6 John talks about waking as Jesus did, a tough one I think but this is what each of us is called to do, there is no opt out for those over 60 or those under 30 it’s for ALL who believe that CHRIST IS REAL and that the world NEEDS a relationship with him.

Hope Revolution, have come up with a new idea for teenagers to help them talk to their mates about their faith in Christ

Textify encourages sending a text to three mates with a spiritual question or a thought about God that will provoke a conversation, it also encourages participates to spend a week in prayer for their friends prior to sending the text. I was really encouraged by this, and hope to try this out in the future and Churches College, why though not extent it to all of us what a great way to get gossiping about the gospel in a non threading way.

This coming week think of friend pray about them then invite them around and talk to them about your faith, make it real and you might be surprised what God does through this.

Crossing the divide

Verses 7-8 talk about the commandment that is at the heart of all God is and does, it’s LOVE! That love like the sun shining, shines on everything and has no favorites, Jesus isn't scared of social taboo's or a public scandal but yet we, his church want to stay 'safe’, if we want to be true to our calling as modern day disciples we are going to have to get our acts together, many out their and in here are broken people who need to know the love of Christ, it’s our job to sign post them to God.

If we are true disciples then we are modern day icons that others can see Christ light shining through and won’t be able to stop themselves asking us about what makes us so alive.

Challenge

I want to gain this town for Christ, I want his name talked about in the shops, pubs in homes, in fact everywhere, I want to start up prayer groups that don’t just sit at home and feel all nice and saintly but one’s that get out their and pray as we walk around the town. I’d like to get Christian Listener’s in our Doctor’s surgeries.

It’s a costly exercise but as God’s harvest people we are called to follow him and do his will.

Merciful and mighty Son,
sender of good gifts, bringer of life, worker of miracles,
you have given your church your own heart.
Help us, through our prayers and actions, to enable local churches to lift the broken.
To release the potential which resides in even the poorest communities.

Amen

Spiritual or Spirituality? - Christian Comment

2011-09-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve noticed many people are saying they are spiritual rather than agnostic or atheist, this intrigues me, when pressed these same people can’t really tell me what spiritual really is. Russell Brand, commenting on the riots, wrote: “I know, as we all intuitively know, that the solution is all around us and it isn’t political, it is spiritual.”
These days when we’ve lost faith in our political system, our banks, lose of jobs, everything in the world seems to be coming down around us, we are searching for some greater meaning in life. As a Christian I strongly believe that this missing piece in all our lives, this spiritual dimension we are all searching for is in fact God.

God’s promise is ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)

It’s time we brought God back onto the agenda, God cares for each and every one of us beyond words, but he won’t false himself on us, God’s crying because he can see we are going astray, as we can see from our televisions, newspapers and in our own town.

If we want our society to flourish, then it needs at its core a belief in the existence of God. It’s not simply the foundation for moral action, it’s what gives us hope and keeps us straining and striving towards a better future.

A Radical Welcome

2011-09-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

A Radical Welcome – so what’s that all about then?
OT Genesis 18 1-8
NT 1 Corinthians 12-26

Welcome to you who have much faith

and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time, you who have tried to follow and you who have failed.

Come, not because it is I who invite you: it is our Lord who has called you here today.’

I’m sure none of you have tried to get a job in McDonalds, if you did get a ‘McJob’ you’d know that in the very expensive training manual there is a section on how employees are to greet customers no matter who they are, as the church we are also called to welcome, not just the people who act and behave like us but we are called to welcome everyone, a risky task but if we are truly to be the church that God called into being then that is the mission God has passed on to us.

I think at times we forget that the church does not dictate the mission it has, the church is given its mission from God, it’s to be his hands and feet here on earth, can we start living this message, can we stop being lukewarm?

Both today’s passages set some challenging questions for us.

God’s people from Abraham through to you and me, the calling has included welcoming and being hospitable to strangers. Faced with three such visitors by the oaks of Mamre, Abraham does not just pass the time of day over a quick cuppa; he rolls out the red carpet, gets the fatted calf and Sarah is called on to produce the best she can from the kitchen, nothing from the back of the cupboard is good enough for these visitors!

Abraham is expecting nothing but excellence second best will not do, despite not really knowing who these guys are, or where they are from, or what there business is.

Abraham then took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. He did not just show then a seat either; he watched over them to see they had all they needed. He was attentive and I suspect if they returned he would be no less effective in his welcome.

Let us not forget that Abraham suggests let a little water be brought, and wash your feet reminding us of another occurrence.

Could it be that Jesus, even in the shadow of the cross, needed to leave us a powerful image of the necessity for us to be welcoming because he knew how soon we would move our eyes, minds and hearts off welcoming those who need to hear his life giving word and try and turn it into a cosy ghetto for those who wanted to keep the church the way they like it

Our New Testament reading focuses on how the body of Christ is really made up and gives a powerful message, there are many people who make it up, each has its own gifting, personality and is totally unique and made in the image of God and should be accepted, I found the last verse particularly challenging

“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together’

But this is all part of that radical welcome, the welcome we give needs to be there always to make feel we are there for them through good and bad, God overarches us all he knows us far beyond what we know so the church needs to be available 24-7 for everyone that’s both lay and ordained we need to support each other, are we doing this as well as Abraham did for those surprise visitors?

The icon painter Rublev was so inspired by our old testament reading that he painted this icon, it’s called ‘Holy Trinity’ We see three angles and a spare seat which is for us, with God there is NO conditions he wants us to come to him just as we are, we also see coloured material flowing from the centre, this represents us we are God’s rainbow people flowing from God’s loving arms.

My dream for a radically welcoming church is this…………

We the church here welcome everyone no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, ability, age, financial status or family status. We believe that diversity is a gift from God and we celebrate this precious gift!

At this church you will learn a lot about the Bible and you will be challenged to follow Jesus daily, but you will not be forced into a neat little box and expected to think exactly like everybody else.

The Bible is a living book that invites us into active dialogue with God in our daily lives--not some dusty old book of rules frozen in time which has no bearing on life today.

Church should be a place where you can be real--no pretending, no hiding who you really are. Church should be a place that welcomes our questions and encourages thought and reflection.

Following Jesus is more about spiritual values than spiritual rules. Following Jesus is not just a part of life; it is a way of life!

To conclude, Welcome does not just stop at the door, that’s where it begins, can we be a radically welcoming church, what do you think?

___________________

O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship; narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling-block to children, nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power. God make the door of this house the gateway to Thine eternal Kingdom.

Being Spiritual

2011-08-20T07:23:00.001-07:00

When people say or write they are 'Spiritual' I wonder what that means, what depth does it have in their daily lives?

Winter poem

2011-08-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Man in denial seeking someone or something else to blame.

Then without warning God trips the switch, creation leeps into resurrection mode. All done without man's help, only Jesus with a little help from his Dad.

Otherness

2011-08-20T07:08:00.001-07:00

When we allow "otherness" to divide us- even when well-intentioned focus on it divides rather than unifies- we miss the heart of God. The answer is not in denying or erasing our differences, but seeing our unity in Christ through the diversity He created in us. It is reflective of His Trinitarian nature- diverse, yet wholly One.

God of Dreams and Visions

2011-08-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

May the God of dreams and visions,

enable you to dream creatively
and to hear the dreaming of others
young and old – in your community.
May you be open to new ideas,
dare to share visions,
be encouraged to hope.

More thoughts on the riots

2011-08-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

I’ve heard people accusing the police of standing back a bit to prove that their numbers should not be cut, I’d strongly disagree with this I think they are just far too over stretched to cope, which I hope will be a warning to the Government that policing is one area you can't cut back on.
Some of the issues that have started the riots have been put down to the Police shooting of the young lad, maybe it could also be down in part to a knee-jerk reaction to people in London living in poverty, jobless, and seeing the millions being spent on venues for the Olympics which they will not be able to afford to attend. However I do wonder if some of it is just copy cat and boredom, facebook and twitter and mobiles are great but I think what has happened the past few nights have shown what great harm they can be used for as well.

I'm pleased that Commons have been recalled from holiday and that meetings are taking place to try and get law and order re-established, I think though it will take longer to rebuild community cohesion, I think this is were the faith communities can take the lead and lets hope and pray they do.

I preached Sunday night about the church being more out there, vocalising itself better, I think this is one occasion when we need to hear from faith leaders, I can say my bit but we need to hear from the top who people do sit up and listen to, well I think they do any way, God's word needs to be heard, prayers need to be said, God will act in surprising ways I'm sure.

Praying for the UK

2011-08-09T03:14:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

I watched on TV last night the unfolding drama of rioting in London and around the UK, it has shocked me the level of violence and anti social behaviour appearing on the streets of our cities. Please join me in prayer today.

Pray for the restoration of order and for peace in our city.
Pray for safety and understanding.

Pray for London TODAY wherever you are - at home, at work, or at church.

Almighty God and Lord of life,We pray for the peace and flourishing of our city.
Protect the weak and vulnerable,Comfort all who have lost homes and businesses,
Protect and guide the emergency services. Strengthen our community,
We pray through Jesus Christ The Prince of peace Amen

re-image Harvest

2011-08-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Come ye thankful people come........

Its Harvest time once again, where does the time go! Harvest is a time to thank God for his bountiful provision for us each day, I think though we have sidelined God thinking it’s all about me, yes we have to provide for ourselves but the source of everything is God and we need to thank him for all things. So I want to re-image Harvest focusing on this short passage from (Micah 6:8)

Act Justly - As God’s beloved Children we are called to act justly, this means to care about those around us and throughout the world, we are called to buy food that is produced fairly and ethically, food we might have to spend a little more on but will give the person selling it at root a fairer wage at the end of the day.

We are called to look out for those living around us, are they really all right physically, mentally and spiritually? If not we are called to help them in some way even if it’s just to show them where they can seek help or maybe just journey with them through the hard times.

Love Mercy - According to the thesaurus Mercy means compassion, forgiveness, sympathy and understanding, all good Christian doing words I think you’d agree, but all really hard to do I think you’d agree? Yet Christ calls us to be all these things but without being some kind of super human, goody two shoes who has a silly permanent grin on their faces and people avoid like the plague, God now’s we will fail but calls us to keep trying to perfect ourselves know that when we do, he will pick us up dust us off and send us on our way again to try again.

Walk humbly with God - I think the Christian church of today has slightly lost its way with this one, we have gone done the path of seeing God through Christ as our best buddy, someone we can go down the pub with and just hang out, God though is an all powerful God and one that should earn our respect, I love the beautiful words of the Anglican service of Evensong ‘O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord’

We are miserable offenders, each and everyone one of us but yet God still loves us beyond time and space and longs for us to know him better, now that has to be something to be thankful about doesn’t it?

Harvest a time to reflect on what God has done for us through sending his son to die for us, to remember what God has done for us throughout the year, so when your deciding what gift to take to church to thank God for all this, maybe he worth more than a tin of fruit from the back of the cupboard which you’ve had since 1982?

A thought for today - Life or Death?

2011-08-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

'God our Father, we read of the commandment "do not kill" and think it doesn't apply to us because we don't take anyone's life. Yet there are times when we take life from others by cruel words, sarcasm, doing people down, and gossiping. Lead us to choose to bring life to others - and not death. Inspire us to break the cycle of whatever is negative or violent or evil whenever we encounter them. Let us not look for vengeance - to get our own back -but lead us to be generous and ready to conquer evil with goodness. Amen.'

As Christians are we not always called to bring life to dark places? but it can be hard can't it? how can we bring new life to those around us how can we keep cruel words out of thoughts and also allow them into are hearts, I pray that we may only speak life and only allow life into our hearts this day and forevermore.

Looking for the new creation

2011-07-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

Reading: Romans 8:26-end

Some of you may have seen a film entitled ‘sliding doors’ for me it was terrifying film, not because of any sort of violence or anything like that it was because it explored how life can chance in an instant, it follows the main star of the film through a day and looks at how life could have been different, a lot different depending on the chooses she makes.

Things that happened to us like getting ill, stuffing up in an exam or maybe a job interview, maybe a relationship we thought was strong suddenly goes bad, we loose our job which is the only source of income we have which has many implications for the rest of the family. All these things are unexpected life can be terrifying can’t it?

Terrorists as we’ve seen this week in Oslo leaving bombs in cities, young people on a summer camp enjoying life suddenly getting shoot, there lives will never be the same again! We learn about more of our young Soldiers being killed.

We could see suffering as just one of those things and say well it happens tough luck; sorry these things just happen and just walk away.

Richard Dawkins describes a world where we just shrug our shoulders like this ‘ some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky and you won’t find any rhyme or reason, or any justice. The universe we observe is exactly how we should expect it, no bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference’

That is a frightening thought isn’t it?

But the passage from Romans we’ve heard read this morning says quite the reserve, in fact the opposite is true!

This is not a world ruled by mere chance; this is a world under the sovereign rule of a loving, just God, despite the pain of live right now, God promises a future filled in his glory of creation, even more wonderful God is working though the pain of life right now to guarantee his people will get there.

Paul in this passage talks about our present sufferings, it sounds like some scales, on one side our present suffering which is weighing us down but Paul says that the glory that is to come will tip the scales the other way, our present sufferings are not worth comparing to what is to come, sure the present difficulties are hard for us to bare and I’m in no way trying to say they are not, but we can be sure that God has something amazing in store for us and we have to look towards that hope.

I want to look deeper into this passage under four sections, you may notice that there are three groans in this passage, I think a more modern interpretation would be longing so we have

1. Creation longs

2. We Christians Long

3. The Holy Spirit Longing

4. I will look at God’s unfolding new creation.

1. Creation Longs

Creation is longing right now, it’s waiting for the long awaited glory, just look around us, creation is decaying wherever we look, you leave an apple in the bowl for too long and it goes bad, a leave falls off a tree and within hours it’s crisp and rotting, our coastline are eroding away, you leave your garden alone and within days it’s a mess, why can’t someone design a self maintaining garden, I’d buy one. We die and our bodies decay into nothing!

Creation is subject to decay and frustration, it’s a world under judgment, God did not choose for it to be so, but when we human’s rebelled against God, God allowed us to feel the consequences of what we had done. It’s a little like an orchestra isn’t it trying to play when the conductor is drunk, when humanity took its hand off the steering wheel, when we refused to accept God’s rule, choosing our own way because it was easier, creation started to malfunction, it no longer works to it’s designers specification, the result is earthquakes, famines, storms, diseases and countless other symptoms, this is a cursed creation.

So lets look at what creation is longing for, creation is eager for the sons of God to be reveled, creation is like a small child trying to pull itself up to it’s full height to look out of the window, creation is longing to be free again like it was when it was created. All things will be right again, humanity will once again have its hands firmly back on the steering wheel, creation will once again function as it was planned to do.

Now I know no women will ever understand how painful man flu can be; I’m sure though even though man flu is very bad, giving birth must be much harder would you agree?

When I go to talk to couples thinking of having their children baptised here many will speck of how painful the birth process is yet you can see in their eyes that the baby in their arms was worth all the pain and they’d go through it all again, maybe one day!

Present suffering is terrible but I think when we see the new creation when our bodies are restored, when humanity is re-created it will be well worth it, creation is longing for this to happen it can’t wait, it’s on tip toes waiting, how long we don’t know!

2. We Christians Long
We as Christians are waiting for our bodies to be recreated, in our 21st century western world, I don’t think we really get this first fruits concept Paul talks about in the letter, the first fruits Paul talks about are those first crops to be harvested giving the people hope for what’s to come their way soon, it’s like the last few days of school before the long summer holidays when your allowed to take games into school and wear clothing you’d rather wear instead of school uniform, It gave us a foretaste of what was coming, those long holidays, bliss, well it was for me, not sure what mum and dad thought!

The first fruits where important, no first fruits then the likelihood of staving was staring you in the face, so holding the first fruits was a great relieve and excitement for all concerned, this is what as Christians we should be like with the Holy Spirit, the spirit should excite us, we are not in the new creation as yet but we are edging towards it, we have an idea of what it might be like to have that relationship with God and with each other, we have a promise the Holy Spirit is living within each of us right now, God’s recreated order is on it’s way.

I wonder if as a Christian, as a church we longing for what is to come, for our bodies to be restored.

John Stott says this ‘Some Christians grin too much and groin too little’ I think he’s right, we need to be excited that we follow Christ but we should be looking for more, don’t accept second best, be expectant for what God has in store for you.

Salvation as a Christian is coming for each of us but we are not there yet, so we should be frustrated with things how they are, our on going sin should be troubling us, are we upset with all the pain and sickness we and our loved ones go through?

We need to be patient yes but like a child on tip toe looking out the window straining to see God’s emerging kingdom here on earth.

3. The Holy Spirit Longs

I wonder how many of us find prayer easy. I know for sure I don’t, praying is difficult at the best of times but in the midst of suffering it’s even harder

How do we pray for those who suffer, we could pray for them to be healed, or for them to have the courage to cope, are we letting the person down by not praying a certain way, if we find praying out loud difficult are we somehow not doing prayer properly, I think myself we need to relax a little and allow ourselves to sink into God’s open arms and let his spirit speck through and to us that’s the only way, if we worry how to pray we will miss the point of praying.

The Spirit goes before God and tells God what is really on our hearts as the spirit lives within us so knows the deepest desires of our being, but also is a tuned to God’s will, isn’t that truly wonderful?

God does not abandon us in our longs he’s sharing in the pain through sending is Spirit to dwell with us.

God works in all things for our good on the way to glory, there is nothing that is outside of God’s control, God is in control of all from the weather to the smallest insect God cares about every second of our lives not just the few hours we spend in church.

We can see life as a random throw of a dice but from today’s passage I think we can see that the thrower of the dice is far from random he knows what he’s doing we just to have to have trust

4. God’s unfolding new creation.

Paul’s letter to the Romans could be seen as Paul with his fingers crossed behind his back saying it will be alright in the end I promise.

I saw a postcard once it said ‘thing will be alright in the end, if it’s not alright then it can’t be the end!’

Those of us with faith are called by God into his greater presence; God is not calling us to be comfortable or even happy but he promises to work for our greater good in all things now this is amazing isn’t it? Whatever happens in life, whatever we or anyone else may face, however painful and difficult these things maybe, however chaotic things may get nothing can take God by surprise no one can out mover him, in all things in anything you can imagine every single minute of each day of your life in all things God works for the good of those who clam him as sovereign lord over their life.

Now we have to be careful how we care for people going through struggles in life, people could think we are just telling them to pull themselves together God is good and we will be ok which is very incentive I think you’d agree?

It’s like when a child goes to see a nurse for an injection, the nurse reassure the child everything will be ok but it’s never the same as being told it by a parent who you trust completely. It’s the same for us and our relationship with God if we can trust in God then we can accept this truth can’t we?

We have to trust God that he is working for our own good, to trust even though we can’t see it, however hard it may be that we have to accept we can trust that God is working for those who love him.

We find it hard to believe this truth because we can’t see the bigger picture we can’t stand outside of ourselves and see what God is doing through all the stuff of life.

All creation is wrapped up in it’s longing for God’s Kingdom to come, as a church as individuals are we on our top toes watching for signs of it around us?

Being Christ’s presence in the community

2011-07-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

Readings:

Ezekiel 3:16-21

John 4 1-29

Theme: Being Christ’s presence in the community

In our Old Testament reading we heard God call to Ezekiel’s to be a Watchman over his people, the people he lived in community with, God called him out to be a prophetic voice to those people.

In the New Testament we read of Jesus encounter with a Samaritan Woman, he goes to where she is and engages her in conversation and using the ordinary things around him to talk to her about her life and what he through his father can do for her changes her life for every, well I hope it did as we don’t here any more about her after this encounter.

Both these bible passages are extraordinary, we can learn a great deal from them living here in Petersfield.

We come here today to worship a God who is the Word who became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. God is a sending God, he firstly sent himself as Jesus into the world to save us, then he sent himself as Spirit to enable and encourage us, now through him he sends us out to do his work in the world.

We seldom understand that God has placed us where we are for a reason; we act as though we have chosen where we live and how we spend our waking hours, but we were sent into the world by God just as Jesus was, once we start living our lives with this conviction in our hearts we will soon know what it is that God has sent us here to do.

I’d like to encourage you as a church to me more mission minded by following these three steps.

1. Be a church that prayers for it’s community

Ezekiel was a watchmen over his city, can we be watchmen and women over this town of Petersfield, to pray especially for ouch parts of this community God as brought us to and that he loves, can we pray for all that goes on here. Maybe pray for our schools there is such a great need for prayer in this town, can you be the first church to say yes, we want to pray for this community?

2. Be a church that is prophetic

The church hates to be a prophetic voice it would rather sit on the fence and disagree under its breath, I think it’s high time the church stood up and challenged the wrongs of society, to speck out on the moral issues of the day, to reset the moral compass of society and hold it accountable.

This week we’ve heard so much corruption in society that makes me so sad, but as a church we can make a difference in small ways, we can speck out to our local government on issues, we can challenge all the new age activity we are seeing in this town. Come on take a risk for God and be a church that is prophetic you can do it.

3. Be a church that is mission centered

In today’s world many people would say they have a spirituality not always a faith in ‘A God’ Is there a way of approaching spirituality that resonates with people without explicit faith?

Are there ways that the Christian Church can encourage and stimulate spiritual well-being among the non-religious without necessarily pressing for conversion?

Can we participate in emerging conversations around spirituality without insisting that it is conducted on our terms and yet at the same time without loosing our identity?

I think more and more that Is what the church of the 21st century is being called to do, how can you as a church embrace this, what would church look like?

I’m excited that the town at last will have a chaplaincy team that will go out of the churches to be salt and light to those it comes into contact with, just like Jesus did with the women at the well, we will use the daily things of live to talk to people and with God’s spirit in us bring them to know God.

So brothers and sisters, it’s over to you Mission is quite simply, though profoundly, what the Christian community is called to do, beginning right where it is, Petersfield is the open mission group, God is pouring his spirit into it, are we ready for a revival, do we want one?

my prayer is yes God we do and we are ready amen!

Loving God Step by step we’re moving forward
Little by little taking ground
Every prayer a powerful weapon
Strongholds come tumbling down, let this be so in this town starting today and starting with this community you have called.

Sermon Mental Health 5/6/2011

2011-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Jesus is our relational and moral compass, our compass to salvation, but does he set the emotional agenda for our churches? That’s what I want to know?

I’m not going to bash the church that I love, I’m here to build up the bride of Christ, I wonder if your build her with me? With my brothers and sisters, with my bishops and fellow clergy, because Jesus loves the people of the world, that’s why he came to die, we have to show him that we love them as well, that we love our neighbors to!

In this world of insecurity the church should be a place where masks can be removed where the real me the real you can be seen for all it’s beauty and all its fragility, a place where those who are fragile can find that rock of stability. Yet sadly all too often church is not a place where this is happening, we have a spiritual vaneer that speaks of us sorted people and this is stopping those who need to find Christ shut out because they think we are all perfect sorted people, are we really?

The church should be the safe harbor from the choppy sea of life a place we can come into battered a braised and encounter the loving enfolding embrace of an omnipotent God who cares.

My dream, my vision is for a church that really cares for those suffering any form of mental or emotional illness; Jesus died for ALL and loves ALL not just those of us sitting here in our smart clothes.

Today’s New Testament introduced us to a man who had been excluded from his local community because he was too difficult to manage. He had broken loose from the chains which were used to restrict him and he lived among the tombs in the churchyard. He also self- abused using sharp stones to cut himself and shouted out to his minders and anyone who came near.

His name was Legion because ‘there are so many of us’. This might refer to a multiple personality or to voices he heard.

Today he would be classified as suffering from a psychotic illness or a personality disorder. His own inner life was in turmoil and he was constantly confronting his demons which plagued him night and day.

Into this scene steps Jesus who earlier had himself been accused by the doctors of the law of being possessed. Jesus arrived with his apostles by boat from the other side of Lake Galilee.

As Jesus came close to Legion, he showed no fear. Fear is a common reaction when people meet mental illness for the first time. Rather Jesus engaged Legion in conversation, asking him his name. He then heals him and Legion’s inner chaos is transferred to a herd of pigs which career down the hillside.

What followed is one of the most beautiful descriptions in the whole of the Bible. There was Legion with Jesus ‘sitting clothed and in his right mind’.

Understandably, Legion asks Jesus if he can join him. Jesus tells him to return to his own people – the very ones who had excluded him!

There are three lessons to be learnt from this miracle.

The first is Jesus’ own teaching when dealing with mental illness. Do not be afraid; and treat the person with dignity and respect by relating to them and engaging in a conversation.

The second is the healing Jesus offered Legion for his broken spirit and troubled mind. As well as care and support, there is often healing and certainly enough help to enable a person with a mental health problem to participate fully in day to day living.

Lastly, Jesus returned Legion to his own community. This is perhaps the first recorded example of community care.

I want the church to model how Jesus encountered illness, he didn’t shy away he was there in the midst of the pain and confusion, that friends is what we called to do.

1 in 4 people have some form of mental illness it’s that common, so why is it such an issue and something we shy away from?

The church has as much to say about the pain of mental health as the world does and its leaders as much as the congregations they minister to, it’s said that 53% of pastors have considered leaving ministry due to stress and 38% felt constant overwhelmed by pastoral care demands, 22% of Anglican clergy take time off each year due to depression, yet even that significant reality is cloaked in individual shame and denial rather in corporate compassion and understanding.

Yet a healthy church has to start with us, each and every one of us, we need to be real and allow ourselves to be ministered to

_________________________

Story of Simon

I met Simon at University of Portsmouth when I was on placement, he was a then a 2nd year student enjoying life, then life closed in on him, he was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, he never touched drugs in his life. Simon went to the doctors and was given anti-depressants, one of his mates suggested he go to church, they will support you and help you through this, he went but there was no welcome, they looked at Simon with suspicion and fear, he was told he was not welcome and asked to leave!

I shed a tear when I heard this, yet the Chaplaincy team took him under their wing, dusted him off and cared for him, they organised support for him, I’m pleased to say Simon has just finished his degree and has got his degree, things are still tough but much better than they were, sadly he still has a negative view of the church which I guess is no wonder after the reception he was given.
____________________

We are allowing a culture in our churches that prohibits the naked engagement of the emotional health of our own hearts without judgment, surely healing is something we need to engage with? Jesus asked us to come to him just as we are, surely if Jesus called us to ‘just be ourselves’ then this should be good enough for the church and God’s people?

Every since the first healings in the early church we’ve asked ‘why are some healed and other not?’ but as we all know the persistent cancer does not indicate the failure of the minister or the unworthiness of the sufferer in the same way we have to be willing to stand with those who suffer with mental or emotional illness long term and without prejudice.

Several times in history the church has had to re-examine itself not in according to it’s on tradition but according to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the reformation has its roots in such a re-assent and I just wonder today if we are also not calling for a reformation within our attitude towards mental and emotional health.

If our churches are to truly to reflect the nature of Jesus they must model the emotional spectrum that Jesus Christ himself showed, he never intended that our churches be emotionally mute that the only expressions of joy and peace would be allowed in his presence,

Jesus shed tears in Luke 19: 4,
he was filled with Joy in Luke 10:21,
he grieved Luke 13:34
he was angry mark 3:5
sadness came over him Matthew 26: 37
he felt sorrow in Luke 7:17
he showed astonishment and wonder in mark 6: 6 and Luke 7:9
he felt emotional distress in mark 3:5 mark 12:15

Jesus expresses perfect humanity hence is spectrum is perfect he educates us in emotional expression as he grieves over Lazarus and as he prayers in distress at Gethsemane before he went to the cross for our sake, as we seek better days for mental and emotional health in our churches let us not use our own ideas our own models our own policies lets use his!

Brothers and sisters the road is bumpy and the burden can be stigma and shame, but Christ has called us to this, he has called us to love God, to love our church, to love his world and love each other as we work together to bring expectance, education and companion and healing and emotional healing to our churches, lets do it in Christ’s name using his model and for his glory.

May this become true.

____________________

Lord of the excluded
Open my eyes to those I would prefer not to see
Open my life to those I would prefer not to know
Open my heart to those I would prefer not to love and so open my eyes to see where I exclude you.
____________________

Radical Welcome

2011-06-02T02:32:00.001-07:00

I’ve been doing some thinking on the question of Welcome.

I’m reading a booklet, written by Alison Gilchrist, entitled ‘Creating a Culture of Welcome – in the local church’ (Grove Booklets, Ev66)

How welcoming is your church? I’m sure we’d all say of course our church is welcoming! But as Alison points out, ‘Regular attendance means we forget how ill at ease people might feel on that first visit…

For many, just coming through the front door of a church may have taken weeks in terms of plucking up the courage – and what if their first experience of church didn’t exactly entice them to come back again. Also, what of those who attend for a few weeks/months and then suddenly stop coming? Was it something we said or did, or didn’t say or do?

Alison points out being hospitable - is big business nowadays, but that the church is famous for 'being a bit of a shambles. No one expects the church to excel at anything it does.' She takes us through 'A Theology of Welcome' and then shares some best practice and ends with a Hospitality Audit. This is to help us to remember how it felt to be a newcomer - something we quickly forget. For instance:

* Can the church entrance be identified easily?

* Are the notice boards, inside and out, current? Newcomers are most likely to read them.

These next two are the real big question and I think ones we can struggle with

* Are all members of the congregation prepared to welcome newcomers?

* Do we practice the 3 minute rule: that is, spend the first 3 minutes after a service seeking out and speaking to someone new, before chatting to friends.

My question for you is this, are you prepared to welcome those who are different from you, maybe because of sexual orientation, lifestyle chooses or life circumstance?

Maybe creating a culture of welcome, a real welcome would be the first step in ensuring that we are doing all we can to make church somewhere all people can feel at home and loved.

Yours in Christ

Anderson

The Big Society

2011-06-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

‘Big Society’ and ‘The Kingdom of God’

I’m very glad that politicians are talking about the ‘Big Society’. A low point in political thinking came when Maggie Thatcher declared that there was no such thing as society. There seemed to follow a period when looking after number one took centre stage and the selfish pursuit of wealth seemed to dominate.

Selfishness is still with us, as the bankers’ bonuses highlight very clearly, but there seems to be an opportunity for society to change, as we are all challenged to think about the ‘Big Society’. What worries me is that this is just a political game, and that, in the short term, nothing much will change. If society remains good for the few who are able to afford it and bad for those in poverty, then we will not be building the ‘Big Society’, but just maintaining the unequal society. A society should not be based on the charity of the rich helping to relieve the worst effects of poverty, but on redistributing wealth on a much more radical scale.

The ‘Big Society’ that David Cameron is promoting is about giving more power to local communities and local organisations, so that they can provide some of the services that have previously been provided by the state.

This sounds very good in theory, but I think the shift is happening too fast. Services are being cut, which are inevitably affecting the disabled, poor and vulnerable more than those who have their own wealth to protect them.

The new provisions will take time to emerge and I wonder whether all the needs can be met by new social enterprises. We must monitor the needs of the vulnerable and hold the government to account if people are left without the support they need. After cutting too much, too quickly, the government may have to re-think and re-introduce some state or local government provision. It is the needs of the vulnerable which should drive the provision, and the last thing we need now is cuts in essential services. Let caring for one another be the dominant theme that drives the move to a ‘Big Society’.

So what is the relationship between the ‘Big Society’ and the ‘Kingdom of God’?

The Church’s purpose, right from its foundation with the coming of Jesus, is to bring about the Kingdom of God. The prayer that Jesus taught us has, at its heart, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. So the Kingdom of God, that the Church is interested in bringing about, will have certain characteristics that can help us to answer what kind of ‘Big Society’ it is that we wish to work towards.

Firstly, it is a society based on love. God is love and wants us to be loving. So I personally think that any ‘Big Society’ which is not based on loving and caring for each other, is not worth working for. Love is inclusive, and if there is one single person in our society who is excluded and unloved, then this is a challenge to all of us.

Secondly, it is a society where leadership is based on serving one another. Jesus shows us that to be a leader is to serve others. He gave us the example of washing the disciples’ feet and said that the greatest amongst us is the least. So the ‘Big Society’ needs leaders who are willing to love and to serve. We don’t want politicians or rich people to be selfish and greedy, and to lord it over others, but to be loving, gentle and kind.

Thirdly, the ‘Big Society’ needs to be an equal society. The prayer of Mary, mother of Jesus, is a very radical prayer – “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly”.

Whenever the kingdom of heaven comes then there is the breaking into the world of peace and justice. We cannot have peace without justice, and the coming of the kingdom of heaven is sometimes very disturbing, because injustice needs to be challenged and overturned. The ‘Big Society’ needs to be based on justice for it will never be a Good Society if it is rife with inequality. For the ‘Big Society’ to work it must be

Good Society, and the only Good Society is that which is based on the principles of the Kingdom of God

The message to us as a church is clear I think we need to be:

1. Prepared to be alongside those in great need, to listen and support – this can/could be a costly exercise (not in terms of money but emotional and challenges to our own thinking)

2. Ready to fill gaps, consider running services (but we cannot afford nowadays to be amateur in this) or at least support those organisations that can.

3. Be a prophetic voice, challenge injustice and speak out – The church is so scared to do this, I think it’s high time we did!

Rev. Anderson Marsh

Radical Welcoming Church

2011-04-28T07:32:00.001-07:00

I think this poem gives an interesting slant to the sometimes difficult issue of being an ‘inclusive’ and ‘all-welcoming’church. What do you think?

But Lord -

But Lord – if They come to our church

we might hear about Life outside.

You would,

said the Lord.

But Lord – there is no Life apart from you.

That’s right,

said the Lord.

But Lord – then there is no Life outside of church.

Not true,

laughed the Lord.

But Lord – to learn their story is to

feel their loneliness.

My loneliness,

said the Lord

But Lord – to listen to Them is to

know their terror.

My terror,

said the Lord.

Or to hear Them is to

know their fear.

My fear,

said the Lord.

And to know Them might be to love Them

or to hate Them

To love me, or to hate me

said the Lord.

Or to embrace Them truly,

truly, we would then belong to Them.

Truly, truly, you would belong to me.

said the Lord.

But Lord – if we do this we will be changed.

We can hope,

laughed the Lord.

We can pray.

But Lord – if we do this thing

we would no longer be our church.

No!

My church.

said the Lord.

You would be My church

(c) Lucy Berry

Good Friday Meditations - At the foot of the cross

2011-04-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Meditation on: Why have you forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46
And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Looking, but not seeing,
straining, but not hearing,
stretching, but not feeling,
calling, but receiving no reply,
Could he really be deserted? Forsaken? Left alone? abandoned?
Sucked into the depths of raging water,
sinking under shifting sand,
Falling, falling, into the dark abyss.
crushed by the weight laid upon him,
blood drained to the point of death,
and alone? forsaken? Deserted by ...
even by ... even by his Father?
And yet as heaven watches, in tear flowing, motionless silence,
as each angel bows his head,
to cast his eye away from this awful sight,
as the Father, white knuckled, stomach knotted,
holds his breath with the weight of his burden of grief,
He enters alone into the deepest darkness,
the mill stone tightly tied,
he is cast out, out into the outer darkness,
where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then I think this man he carries what I should carry,
He goes where I should go,
He suffers the pain that I should besuffering,
He stands in my place,
and all I can do is stand with bowed head,
I cast my eye away from this awful sight.
to know that as he calls, he calls in my place,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

Dear Lord, Mine was the guilt, mine was the punishment, mine was the pain, the millstone you carried was my millstone, the abyss you entered was my abyss, all this you did for me, and all I can do is watch. Amen.

------------------------------------

Meditation on: I am thirsty

John 19:28

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”

Thirst? Thirst? Him?
He who offered living water that would quench all thirst?
Can he thirst?
Can he be so drained of spirit and life,
so drained of living water that he, yes he could thirst?
Yes he has his physical thirst,
but his thirst is not for water or wine,
not for the drink that satisfies human need,
But his thirst is for the water of life,
for that spiritual water that has refreshed him, renewed him, strengthened him so many times
before,
and yet as blood and sweat drain from his tortured body,
so does this water,
so does his water,
the water that he has offered to so many
in healing and forgiveness and renewal,
Even his soul is drained,
even his spirit thirsts,
and so he cries from deep within: “I thirst, I thirst.”
His is the thirst of all thirsts,
His is the suffering of all sufferings,
His is the death of all deaths.
for his is the thirst of the whole world,
His is the suffering of the whole world,
His is the death of the whole world.

Dear Lord, you suffer to end suffering, you thirst to quench all thirst, you die to bring me life. Amen.
Meditation on: Why have you forsaken me?

These words formed part of our prayer time this morning

2011-04-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

We live in a cross shaped world where things are not as you planed, we remember all those who live in places of conflict and oppression that you might bring your healing touch to these places and people.

We also bring before you to ouch point of this community; where we see anti-social behavior, crime and lack of respect for others.

Guide us to walk with those who feel let down by society, by employment or unemployment, to walk with those who feel let down by their families, by friends and neighbours and those who feel let down by themselves. Please put a new and caring spirit within each of us

Help us loving God to find ways to be salt and light to this community and your cross shaped world, inspire us to be answers to our own prayers.

How much do we care about the bible?

2011-04-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

It’s all over the news today that Ten UN staff where killed in Afghanistan amid protests over Qur'an burning http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/un-staff-afghanistan-mazar-sharif-killed-quran

I can’t understand how someone could burn another faiths holy book, it’s totally wrong and I think the Pastor that did this should be defrocked and done for racial hatred. The main reason for this post though is, I wonder if someone burnt the Bible, would we riot, would we be that bothered, I’m not sure we honestly would be, I don’t think we hold the Bible in each regard.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote these very challenging words:

"You Christians look after a document (the bible) containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature."

I wonder what would happen if we Christians truly respected the bible as much as our Muslim Brothers and Sisters respect the Koran?

Nicodemus

2011-03-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Our personal faith is something we never really talk about, yet to help us develop as people of faith we need to ask those questions we’ve never dared ask, Nicodemus asked Jesus many questions, I think his story is still just as relevant and true to us here in Sheet this morning, so what can we learn from it.
Nicodemus was a religious teacher, in today’s world he might be seen as a fundamentalist, when he asks the big questions of life,

who am I?

where do I come from?

Where are things going?

What’s the point of life?

He saw things in terms of God intervening in the future to set up his kingdom, where God would make everything OK again, the way to get ready for this, to have an entry pass into this new kingdom God was making was to be very strict in your moral and religious observance. So that in God eyes you would be fit, an appropriate person to be included in the new setup.

Know this sounds to me like you have to earn brownie points with God doesn’t it?

Having to appease God like this is something practiced by some religions of our time accept for mainstream Christianity that is, it assumes that it is possible for us as human beings to be good enough, you can see the delight that the people who adopt this approach can have, they think they have achieved perfection, they are morally and spiritually superior to others around them who they would regard as morally and spiritually bankrupt.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus so early on in Jesus public ministry reflects that all be it privately he is aware that this brownie points system does not work, it’s never worked, before now he’s never seen another path.

Nicodemus was impressed by Jesus, the miracles, the acts of kindness which Jesus has already done, unlike the other religious leaders of the time who thought all that Jesus was doing was the devils work, Nicodemus however had an inkling deep within that Jesus was about God’s work.

Nicodemus could see that Jesus only did good, he may have also began to be impressed by what Jesus was saying, so he comes to Jesus by night, maybe out of fear, he just didn’t want anyone to know that he was talking with Jesus, maybe because he could have longer with Jesus without the crowds about, all waiting his attention.

The symbolism of the timing, it being at night was not lost on the writer of the Gospel, John. Here we have a religious leader, trapped in a world view of a way of getting right with God that simply does not work that is in fact a delusion, which in biblical symbolism is darkness and here we have somebody coming in the pitch darkness to Jesus, who is the light of the world, the one who eliminates the path way to God.

Nicodemus was an unsure seeker, he had the glimmer maybe a spark of an understand that something needed addressing within, he needed someone to completely remake him

Many people today think being a Christian is about stacking up brownie points for heaven, if you go through all the rites of passage, baptism, confirmation, even give ordination a go, maybe consecration and your be 100% in the God club, that what many think its all about.

I wonder if you think the same?

But Jesus says unless God has started a work in our lives we can’t even see what it’s really all about, it remains totally hidden from us.

There was a Bishop who was able to explain this passage very well, he said you maybe like my friend the Archdeacon and pointing at him sitting in the corner, for unless a man is born again, he can’t under the kingdom of God, a few days later the Bishop got a letter from the Archdeacon, he said my dear bishop, you have found me out, I have been a clergymen for over 30 years and never understood or experienced the joy Christians speak of, I could never understand it, my faith has been a hard, legal service, I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me, but when you pointed directly at me, and said what you said about being born again, I realised in a second what the trouble was, I have never known anything of this new birth, the Bishop and archdeacon meet and talked and prayed and finally the archdeacon became a Christian.

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, your only hope of a spiritual life with God is if God above transfuses you with new life as, it’s desperate and humbling as that, this is tough for Nicodemus to swallow, it is an assault on his pride, surely its impossible to change those ingrained human bad habits.

Nicodemus is saying a physical bodily rebirth is totally impossible, but surely so is a spiritual and moral rebirth in someone?

Jesus replies that no one can ever enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and spirit, flesh gives birth to flesh and sprit gives birth to spirit, being born again, being regenerated is not something we can acutely do anything about, regeneration is a work of God and God alone, God first of all works below the level of our conscience awareness, we allow God to seep into our very beings, God does the regeneration, our response is to be converted, to follow a new path, God’s path.

As human beings we are totally hopeless and helpless without God, we need God, God wants to rescue us and redeem us out of our situation, what we might call a total rebirth.

Nicodemus would have been aware of the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:25, Ezekiel realises that it is impossible to be one of Gods people if the problem of sin has not been dealt with, the solution God inspired him to utter is this,

I will sprinkle you clean water on you and you will be clean, I will cleanse you from all your impurity,

Now that deals with the past but how do they ensure that they can live up to Gods standards so they can live with him in the future? The solution is that God will give them and us a new heart and put a new spirit within us, God will remove from us our heats of stone and give us new hearts of flesh, and God will put his spirit within us and move us to follow him. Ezekiel saw the need for a fresh start a total clean up and an empowerment to live God’s way with God living in and through each of us.

We can’t see God, but we can see the effect he’s had and having in someone’s life, like the wind, we can’t see but we can see the effects it has, if we are born again and God is working through us.

So how does God operate through us, what is going through the minds of people like Nicodemus and those who encounter the life changing words of God?

God spirit is linked to Gods word, when God specks it’s through his spirit taking his words and putting them in our heads, thus we come spiritually alive and our eyes are opened, we are then in a position to choose God’s path or one of our own, prior to this we were incapable of responding to it we were spiritually dead and dead people can’t bring themselves alive again but God can bring us back so we can then choose.

The process of coming to know God is different for each person, God has no timeline set, the point at which we discover God might happen over night, for others it’s a slow process, its God’s business and he will enlighten us when he is ready.

So in conclusion we have seen how the story of Jesus meeting Nicodemus is a really encouraging one. It is the story of

a seeker becoming

a learner

becoming a believer.

As we think about this story I want us to consider one important question: Where are you in this story? Are you seeking, learning or believing?

• Are you seeking some truth about God, just dipping your toe in the water to find out more about Jesus and Christian faith? It is good you are here and I hope you will find all the help you need to move on. Perhaps there is a question you have - please ask it.

• Are you learning? Perhaps you are learning about how central Jesus is to Christian faith, about what his death on the cross really means. Don't get distracted but keep coming back to Jesus, he is both Question and Answer.

• Are you believing? Are you able to say: yes I have been born again, perhaps not on one date, but I am now a servant of Jesus and want to follow him in my life? Are you living that out in your life as Nicodemus did? Standing up for your faith at home, work and with friends is really important. Giving generously is a sign of a converted heart.

Prayer

The man who came to Jesus at night found the light of life. May we know the light of Jesus in our lives and shine out to his glory in what is still a dark world.

Redundancy

2011-03-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Redundancy is a word none of us want to hear, yet for many of us it’s a reality we are going to have to face.
Speaking personally when my boss meets with me to discuss the redundancy and the future of the organisation in another building, another phase of its operation, it hurts a great deal, knowing I’m not going to be involved in shaping it’s future, I’m no longer needed, it feels as if with each meeting a plaster is ripped off, I’m stabbed and the plaster is put back on.

I am told that the prison population contains a worrying number of young talented football players who have been nurtured by a premier league club but, because of injury or the stiff competition, have been “let go”. The impact of losing a future that has been one’s intense desire for as long as you can remember is devastating. The football life and the military life alike generate the most unbelievably intense passion. These are not just jobs; they amount to an identity, an investment of our being, our state of mind.

Passion for one’s occupation is not wrong. To be fulfilled in work is one of God’s blessings. To find your vocation in life is to discover and be able to use and develop the gifts that God has given you by his divine grace.

Where I work there is a tangible sense of bereavement, the spark has vanished and heartbeat is faint, There have been tears, even wails of anguish. The loss of one’s job is bad enough, there is also the loss of one’s identity some of the questions we’ve all wrestled with are:

Who am I?

Am I any good at anything?

Will I find a job?

How will I cope?

It’s not just the loss of Job, it’s the loss of community, as a group of people who work together we’ve built a community, we’ve broken bread together in the form of sharing cakes and thoughts together, we’ve shared the high’s a lows of being human with each other, yet one word has dismantled that community forever.

I can only speak through my own personal circumstances, but from what I hear from others in the same place some of what I’ve said is true for them as well.

In times of austerity unknown for at least a generation, we can perhaps be even more grateful for Jesus’ reminder that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Having our treasure invested in a job is never enough for a meaningful life.

Investing in the treasure of a relationship with God is the only identity that finally counts.

I end with this prayer which sums up everything I’ve said:

Loving Father, we live in a society that often values people according to the work they do and the salaries they earn.

People without work can feel lost and discarded.

Teach us, good Lord, to value them as you do. Help us who know them to assuage their bitterness and anger. May they find peace in the knowledge of your love, and the confidence to offer themselves for retraining and employment.

Grant them that security in your love which will enable them to bounce back from their sense of rejection, and know that delight in your providence through which they may move forward and prosper in new-found work or in their new way of life.

The Wedding at Cana - The Old is transformed to the New

2011-02-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

There are some people who describe the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine as a ‘luxury’ miracle.

No one was healed,

No one was saved from an evil spirit,

No one was raised from the dead,

Not even a touch where someone feels the presence of God.

All it seemed to achieve was saving the family at Cana acute embarrassment.

But I think if we think this we are totally missing the point of the story. It is at the beginning of John’s gospel and gives insight into the entire meaning of the gospel. If John’s gospel was a musical work, the story of the wedding at Cana would be the overture, giving a foretaste of what is to come.

I want start my referring us back to earlier in the Gospel where Jesus tell Nathanael that Nathanael will see angels ‘ascending and descending on the Son of Man’, a reference back to Jacob’s dream where Jacob had seem a ladder or stairway going from earth the heaven.

So Jesus has, in effect just told Nathanael, and us, that He is that ladder, He Himself is the way of access between heaven and earth. Something in the world order is changing.

The story now passes to Nathanael’s home village of Cana. And our gospel reading begins, ‘On the third day…’

John is giving us a clue as to the magnitude of what is about to unfold. The readers of this gospel would be fully aware of things that happen on the third day. Death becomes life on the third day, the old world order if fully superseded by the new world order on the third day, that which was hopeless becomes a fount of hope on the third day. On the third day, there is a wedding at Cana in Galilee

The very words that open the story evoke a picture of the old and the new coming together. Jesus’s mother (the old world order) was there; Jesus and the disciples (the new world order) had been invited. The old world order has run out of wine. Run out of energy. Despite the best efforts of those involved the old world order has been found lacking. Jesus’ mother, at this point a link between the old and the new turns to Jesus and tells Him what has happened.

Jesus replies that His time has not yet come, nor will it fully until another story involving three days, but Mary can sense the new world order is beginning and instructs the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. John notes there were six stone jars. The old world order is even referenced in the past tense.

Jesus asks them to take the vessels that are normally used to hold the water for ceremonial washing of the old world order of the law. He asks them to fill them up with water, the water that would be used to cleanse themselves so they were fit for entering into their rituals and engagement with God, fill them up to the top. It doesn’t matter how full they are, they can be full to overflowing in the old regime, they will never be adequate in the new,

And then once they are full, Jesus simply says to draw some of it out and take it to the master of ceremonies. We know that the water has been transformed into wine. The way in which people came before God was transformed by the presence of Jesus.

In John’s gospel there are many references to water, springs, wells, basins, and ultimately water flowing out of Jesus’ side. Water a symbol of the raw material of our human nature, our very existence.

In asking for the vessels to be filled up with water so that they can be transformed into wine, Jesus is demonstrating that He can take the very stuff of our human nature,

All that we have been in our lives up to now,

All that we will be in the future,

All our cares,

All our concerns,

All our fears,

And transform them by His very presence.

Jesus transforms our lives. All He asks is that we offer the very stuff of our lives to Him so that He can touch it and transform it so that we can know the fullness of the other third day. So that we can experience the intersection of the old world order and the new world order in our lives, the intersection of heaven stooping down and touching earth, our souls.

Jesus doesn’t take our old way of doing things, our old way of being, the way we have been up until now and smash it to pieces, saying it’s worthless. He asks us to expose it to Him so He can transform it by His touch and His presence.

What He wants to do is fill what we are up to the full make and then transform it. In this sense He does not want less of our human nature, He wants more, He wants it all, so He can transform and us it and us for His work and transform us so we can have a relationship with God through Him who is the way of access to heaven.

When we come to church we are exposing ourselves to this transforming power. God’s Spirit is with us in our churches as we come before Him week by week so we are exposing ourselves to His transforming power and are transformed as we do so. We may not feel very transformed, but that is what’s happening to us.

The very thing He promised to Nathanael and that He demonstrates at the wedding in Cana happens to us week by week as we expose our lives to the transforming power of God and the new world order increasingly breaks through in our lives.

There are two other points which John draws out in the story of the wedding at Cana. He says that this is the first sign, the beginning, the ruling principle, the overarching principle or sign of Jesus. A sign of transformation, a sign that the new world order has come, a sign that the way of access to God is not some abstract ladder in Jacob’s dream but Jesus Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God.

And if this is the ruling principle of the signs that follow, the healings, the walking on water, the raising of the dead, need to be understood in its light. That Jesus takes the old world order and transforms it by His touch and His Spirit. He did then and He does now.

John also tells us that in performing this sign that He revealed His glory – a word that can also mean the weight or value of something or brightness. In performing this first sign Jesus demonstrated His worth and the brightness that had now come to a world in darkness.

It would not be until the next story of the third day that this full value the brightness that overcame the darkness would be fully understood by the disciples but we can see it now.

And as we allow Jesus to take the very stuff of out lives, as we expose it to His transforming power, so His glory shines from us, perhaps not very brightly sometimes, but shines nonetheless.

Prayer for the unemployed

2011-01-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

Loving Father, we live in a society that often values people according to the work they do and the

salaries they earn.

People without work can feel lost and discarded. Teach us, good Lord, to value them as you do. Help

us who know them to assuage their bitterness and anger. May they find peace in the knowledge of your

love, and the confidence to offer themselves for retraining and employment.

Grant them that security in your love which will enable them to bounce back from their sense of

rejection, and know that delight in your providence through which they may move forward and prosper

in new-found work

Don't Call Me Stupid

2011-01-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wondered what it's like have dyslexia then you've got to watch these series of films. It's really helped me:

Sermon Preached at 8:00am Service 2nd January 2011

2011-01-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

Gospel Reading: John 1 10-18

Ken Dodd sung about happiness being the greatest gift we can ever possess, at least it’s the one thing the Government can’t tax us on, well not yet anyway but I’m sure given the chance they might give it a try!

In today’s society though happiness is in short supply, the recession is hitting us hard. There was a report on the radio as I was thinking about today’s sermon stating that many people have taken out huge loans with no chance of paying it back any time soon just so they could have a decent Christmas and be happy for a few days.

Yet is happiness really found in how much money we have paid out, for myself I can find happiness in going out for a long walk with my dog I’m sure you can think of things that make you happy that are free.

It interests me that most people seem to think that happiness lies in what we have, whether that be a posh car or a loving family. I’d like to suggest that happiness really comes from within your very being.

In the City of London between 1400 and 1560, mask wearing was banned in the streets at Christmas and New Years parties. As people made their way home from parties, presumably a little the worse for wear, it was too easy for masked villains to take advantage and rob them of their purses. So masks were outlawed throughout the 12 days of the festive season.

We all have our masks, and some fit very comfortably. we become unsure about how to remove them as the false self becomes the real self and we can no longer remember what the real self is like. One of the reasons we adopt the masks in the first place is the belittling strength of the messages we have received through our personal history, and continue to receive and believe from those we meet in our day to day lives.

These voices shout at us from every direction, and are as destructive as they are convincing:

Be beautiful

Be rich

Believe this

You’re stupid

You’re fat

You don’t fit in

You’re boring

As we fail to live up to what is expected, and live down to what we are told about ourselves, so we end up beating ourselves up or showing off — the two variations of feeling a failure and unacceptable.

Our fears, though focused on the future, come from our past, disclosing the imprints of all the mes¬sages received deep within that we have not been able to control. To hide them, as well as the hurts, and to ensure our internal mess is not seen, we quickly make masks that see us through the day, but which leave us living lives haunted by the life we never had.

One of the liberating things about learning to love someone, and be loved in return, through the years of a relationship, is that we are shown that we are actually lovable beneath all these accumulated defences. We do not choose love: it chooses us.

We cannot heal ourselves; only love received from another can begin the repair work and provide the scaffolding to build again. Love exposes to us the ways in which we have pre¬vented joy. This conventional truth is the incarnation in miniature.

The American writer James Baldwin put it: “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”

CHRISTMAS is a good time to dare to remove these masks; for, instead of listening to what the voices, within and without, are telling us about who we are, we are asked to hear what God is saying to us about ourselves. The Christmas story is full of divine dreams in which God speaks — of heavenly messengers on errands, and of calls from heaven to shepherds, Magi, and many others to re-orientate their journey to the divine compass rather than human signposts.

The constant message from heaven is “Do not be afraid;” do not let the past paralyse you, but come and be surprised by how loved you are.

St John tells us in the opening words of his Gospel that God has moved into our neighbourhood. He comes “to set the prisoner free”. God has taken off his mask of invisibility in order to defrost us, and to save us from ourselves.

The simplicity of the place the Magi and Sheppard’s are drawn to, an animals’ outhouse in an insignificant town, the star constantly compelling them to look up out of themselves towards God, in whom earth will find itself at peace.

The innocent needs of the animals that crowd round the stable remind them of their own yearning — our search for God being like the river seeking the ocean. The ancient Assyrian word for prayer was the same as that for opening a clenched fist.

“JUDGEMENT” is a word that many Christians are uncomfortable with because of the images of hell-fire and damnation that it can conjure up. The portrait of God that it can paint is that of a God who is to be feared because of his angry policing of souls. The Christmas Story told to us from within the pages of the Gospels teach us another way of understanding the word.

God is not to be feared because he is a tyrant out to get us, but because he is real. Ultimately, the judgement of God is a loving act because it liberates us from our lies, and gives us fresh foundations on which to build a life. St Paul looked forward to that day when he would see “face to face”.

This judgement, of ‘seeing eye to eye’, heart to heart, begins in the crib with the dissolving of our cover-ups by God’s opening himself to us, defenceless.

God’s gift to us is being,

and our gift to God is becoming.

As St John wrote his Gospel, he kept his eye on the book of Genesis, realising that this Word among us was a birth of births in us, the bringing into life of a new way of being human.

As we look at the child in the crib, so we begin afresh the conversion of life which seeks to reflect what we see and encounter in him.

The Christmas story invites us into the truth that God loves us just the way we are, but here the this twist to the story, God loves us so much that he doesn’t want us to stay like that.

Eugene O’Neill wrote: “None of us can help the things life has done to us. They’re done before you realise it. And once they’re done, they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you’d like to be, and you’ve lost your true self for ever.”

Wherever we have settled into this staleness, at a distance from our depths, whether in sheep fields or in the company of Herod, we are urged by heaven to be released by divine truth, and to see the being and nature of God in the one named Jesus, recklessly loving his creation at risk to himself.

As our cries go out to heaven, so a message comes back, written in the same stuff of which we are made. The Word is made flesh. He comes into the world as poetry enters the poem. No longer travelling incognito, God translates himself into visibility, and asks us to take the same risk.

As we enter this new year maybe our masks can go?

Following on from last post

2010-12-31T01:25:00.000-08:00

An Explosion of Joy in the community???? What if the church was able to embody this.....

I see the coloured paint as our prayers pouring out into the community.

2010-12-14T01:17:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine Cris wrote the following on his blog, it's got me thinking as well, he writes this'Thinking about Lesslie Newbigin's quote "The Church should be a 'Explosion of joy' in the community". Mmm how do we do this...'

Desmound Tutt said something simular I think, it would be great if the church was like this, we all look so sad when we leave church, are we not supposed to be people of the light, we have good news to share don't we?

Christian Comment - Will you find room for Jesus this Christmas?

2010-11-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

I wonder if you have the same problem as me, trying to fit everything in you need to do, plus have time for yourself, it’s not easy is it? As Christmas looms life does not get any slower in fact I think it speeds up! Before you know it its Christmas day and you’re exhausted and just collapse in a big heap!

We are now in the second week of Advent, a time in the churches year when we are called to slow down and reflect on our lives and priories, one question I think we need to reflect on is ‘what do I give space for in my life?’

What your response would be to this question, are the things you do life affirming or are they life destroying? Perhaps as you reflect you might choose to give up those things you do which are destroying your life, and take up something more affirming.

Maybe work rules all your waking time, you have no time for anything else, perhaps you could look for ways to give yourself time out and enjoy life a little, leaving that PDA at home and just being you?

The Gospel of Luke, Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, they kept trying all the inns but they were all full, until one kind inn-keeper allowed them to use the stable where Mary gave birth to Jesus because there was no room in the Inn.

Jesus this Advent time is knocking at your door will you offer him a home in your heart, will you give him some space, will you give him space to grow and develop, go on take a chance, have a happy Advent and a blessed Christmas.

Remeberance Day Sermon - 8:00am

2010-11-15T01:47:00.000-08:00

“By your endurance you will gain your souls.” (Luke 21:19)

Gospel Teaching

Jesus warns his followers of turbulent times ahead. The Temple, the focus of the nation’s religious, political and social life, will be destroyed; there will be conflict between peoples and nations and disturbances in the natural world. False teachers and messiahs will abound and there will be chaos and confusion everywhere.

There is worse. As the followers of Jesus, they will face particular suffering as they are persecuted by both Jews and Gentiles, betrayed by relatives and friends, and hated by all because of his name. They will become scapegoats, just as Jesus himself was a scapegoat.

As they contemplate this terrifying prospect, what is Jesus’ message to them? When the familiar crumbles around them, they must not be distracted by false teaching and false promises, but remain faithful to him. “Beware that you are not led astray… do not go after them.” In the face of chaos and turmoil, they are to resist the natural fear which will threaten to overwhelm them, and keep a resilient trust in him. When they are persecuted, they are encouraged to see this as an “opportunity to testify”, relying on the wisdom that will be given to them. Even if they are betrayed and put to death, they are to keep faithful and trust in the certainty of resurrection life: “By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Jesus tells his followers: “You will be hated by all because of my name.” He says in effect: “Your lives will reflect mine.” There is a parallel between the sufferings the disciples will face and those of Jesus himself. He too was persecuted by both Jews and Gentiles, was put on trial and testified to the truth; he too was betrayed by a close friend; he too faced contempt, torture and death in the confidence of God’s saving power. Jesus encourages his followers to see the coming suffering not simply as a trial to be borne, but also as an opportunity to witness to him. This they are to do, not only through their words, but through their whole response to the fierce opposition they will face. By their patient endurance they will identify themselves more fully with him, and through this they will gain their true selves and the fullness of life he offers.

Reflecting Christ through brokenness

We may not feel these words of Jesus have an immediate relevance to us. Most of us do not face fierce opposition, persecution, torture and death for our faith in Christ. But for many Christians over the centuries and for many in our world today, these words have spoken and continue to speak into very real situations. Let us remember in our prayers our brothers and sisters across the world, for whom the call to follow Christ and identify with him leads to the ultimate sacrifice of persecution and death.

Even if we ourselves do not face such trials, none of us is totally immune to the instability, conflict and environmental threats of our world or to the hostility of those opposed to the way of Christ. We too need to hear Jesus’ message: to keep our eyes on him even if familiar religious institutions begin to crumble; to resist the temptation to follow attractive false promises rather than the way of Christ; to trust in him even when we feel fearful at the state of the world and its future; to see the opportunities to speak of and live out our faith even in the face of ridicule, opposition or indifference; and to keep a patient faithfulness through any kind of suffering or doubt.

None of us can know what the future may hold or what we may be called upon to bear for our faith, but we can be more prepared by taking hold of Jesus’ words and praying daily for patient faithfulness and trust, that we might become more like him and by endurance gain our souls.

Healing through Remembering

Autumn is my favourite time of the year, that slight nip in the air, the beautiful rich colours everywhere and that unmistakeable smell that awakes our senses, the falling leaves remind us of lives birth and death a cycle that is never ending.

Autumn seems to trigger in us a time to think back, to remember those that have gone before us, last week we remembered before God all those we’ve loved who have passed into his nearer presence, today of course we remember those who died fighting for our country.

As we gather later for our act of remembrance and enter into the two minutes of silence I wonder what images and thoughts will be in your minds?

Maybe it’s an image of men fighting in the trances during the First World War

A young solider exhausted and lonely in Afghanistan

Whatever the image we must never forget those who have fallen during both World War’s; and here, we remember not only those who gave their lives, the men and women of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, as well as all who assisted the war effort: medics, nurses, Wardens, members of the Merchant Navy to name but a few, but the thousands whose lives were taken away, civilian men, women and children, the victims of bomb and bullet, as well as all the injured and traumatised.

We remember the recent wars and conflicts of our own time: the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan; the deep, deep sadness of seeing men and women return in flag-draped coffins, brought back to their families, now without wife, husband, or partner, father or mother, son or daughter.

We remember those who right this second are engaged in conflict to rid the world of the evils of the Taliban, to restore peace and order to Afghanistan, and to stem the trafficking of drugs which wreck so many lives, and if you have read the novels of Khaled Hosseini, you will know what that longing for peace and freedom means. And while there are some hopes for a lasting stability in Iraq, we should not minimise the continuing danger to those seeking to support the Iraqi defenses forces.

We remember those survivors of any conflict, for who the two minutes silence is difficult having known and seen the horrors of war, some don't want to remember what happened, they really want to forget - not in a disrespectful way, but because it hurts and they're trying to get on with living - to them, 2 minutes silence is like ripping the top off a deep wound.

We also need to hold up a mirror before our eyes, as Christians we need to ask hard questions about the morality of each conflict and the price it exacts in terms of human suffering. If we dehumanise the so called enemy we commit a sin against the all-loving Creator. Yet if we allow those who will do our country harm what price will we pay then?

A poem entitled ‘Reality in Afghanistan’ written by a solider Phil Williams when he was stationed in camp Bastion 1 July 2009

My pain feels cold and selfish
My anguish very small
My reality insignificant
Compared to ones that fall
Young men with broken bodies
Their Comrades lie in sacks
Devastated parents
Their sons will not come back.

My pain will ease and lessen
My anguish slip away
Reality in Afghanistan

Two brave men died today
Young men with shell shocked faces
Growing old before their time
Are living breathing testament
To this shallow pain of mine.

This morning we also heard a reading from the Prophet Malachi, in it he talks about ‘the righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.’ We can never forget about the past, its what makes us who we are and the country what it is today, yet we must look to the future through Christ and see hope, healing and love.

Amen

Jesus – Trick or Treat?

2010-10-31T08:45:00.000-07:00

Dogs must be the most optimistic animals in the world. Have you noticed that whenever the doorbell rings, they’re the first to the door, and it’s never for them.

But it doesn’t stop them going back time after time after time.

So tonight might be a very tiring night for a dog, as the doorbell might go a few times with children ringing it asking, ‘Trick or Treat?’

I don’t know about you but I do ask myself the question

Do I go to the door and answer the bell in case it’s someone who really does want to speak to me?’

Trick or Treat probably started on the West Coast of the US around the 1920 and slowly moved East, with a brief hiatus dung the war and the sugar shortage until it hit the UK several years ago.

And whilst we may think it’s relatively new to the UK, strangely enough, it’s similar to a Medieval practice called ‘Souling’ where the poor people of the neighbourhood would knock on the doors of the richer people and offer to say prayers for the dead in exchange for food

It’s an interesting link, because as we think of All Souls and All Saints in our service today, all those who have died in the faith, at All Hallows time we really have to decide whether Jesus Himself was a Trick or a Treat. Is our faith just a delusion built up over the centuries by other self deluded and misguided individuals

is Jesus, perhaps, just some cruel trick of the theologians, historians and the church, to keep the establishment going as they claim Him to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world…

…or is He really the Son of God who gives us access to a better life through a relationship with God, and therefore the biggest treat God could ever offer the world? And therefore is our faith true and real?

Logically, He has to be one or the other, there is no in between. Either He is who He says he is or He is not.

When we look at all the information we have about Jesus, not just from the bible but from lots of other sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, secular historians of the time such as Josephus and lots of other documentary fragments of information, its clear that someone called Jesus did indeed exist at the time that the bible claims He did

So, is the trick perhaps who He claimed to be, the Son of God. Was he really that unique? There were lots of so called miracle workers and prophets around at the time, what made Jesus special?

What makes Him unique is that from what we read in the bible, and in other places, He really did transform peoples’ lives, He healed people, He taught in an authoritative manner, He challenged the authorities and above all He showed an uncompromising love for everyone in the world and the whole of creation which would ultimately lead to his death. In short, He claimed that He was the Son of God Himself made manifest on earth.

Oh, and He was crucified, rose from the dead, and go out of from a tomb that was guarded by Romans who would be killed if they let anything happen to the body of Jesus.

In fact, if He’d been a can of Ronseal we’d say He did exactly what it said on the tin. What He said He would do, He did, what He said would happen, really did

So again, if we look at the evidence, at the lives He transformed, the people who have been healed, at the church itself, which would stand no chance of survival if it wasn’t for a loving God (with a great sense of humour!) it’s clear that Jesus is who He claims to be.

He transformed lives then and He continues to transform lives through the ages and even now. He continues to show the world His love through those that follow Him, His saints, through His church, and through that love He continues to transform individuals, society and the world

So rather than being a trick, He is the biggest Treat God could ever offer the world, transforming lives, transforming society and transforming the world

And whilst we and the world might not be perfect, it’s not the finished article yet

Paul calls the faithful in Ephesians, all the Saints. All who believe in Jesus are His Saints, even though we are still sinners, because we’re not perfect yet

And just like the Trick or Treaters, every day Jesus stands at the door or our lives and rings the bell

But just as when the Trick or Treaters come around, we have a choice to make, do we respond to the ring at the door or do we ignore it. Do we open the door, perhaps for the first time, or for the umpteenth time and let God in a little bit further into out lives.

What do we do? Do we let Jesus, the biggest treat that God gave the world, a little more into our lives day be day, or do we hope He will go away if we don’t respond

Do we want to enjoy more of the treat of God, or do we want to collude with the world, perhaps believe the trick that many people would like us to believe, that Jesus was not who He said He was, that religion is a con

Or do we let ourselves be treated by God

Trick or Treat – it’s your choice

An Image of church

2010-10-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

I very much like this image of the church as a restaurant with people invited to a wonderful banquet, the chef preparing an amazing meal in the kitchen, with those swing doors that come between, and waiters running in and out, bringing forth the food from the banquets to the people at the table. And this is a very aristocratic restaurant. So here we are waiting at the table and of course sometimes in our Church the waitstaff get into a snit with themselves and each other. But none of us really ought to be fooled into thinking that we go to a restaurant in order to watch the waitstaff. When the waitstaff are at their best, they're almost invisible.

So we ought not to pay too much attention to them, we ought to be pretty certain that even if they do get into a snit - and they're all worried about their uniform, and who's got dandruff on their uniform, and all this kind of stuff - we oughtn't really to pay much attention to that, but just be quite sure that the chef in the kitchen is bringing forth wonderful stuff, and he'll find ways to smuggle it out to us, whatever the hissy fits which the waitstaff are having. So I think it's quite important we remember that, and relax about it. We can be very aristocratic as we receive what our Lord offers us.

What are your thoughts on this?

Sermon Preached at 8:00am Gathering at STMM

2010-08-31T01:12:00.000-07:00

God may your Holy Spirit come and settle on us here, in our ears, and on my voice, that I may speck, and we may hear from you a fresh today.

Amen

1. Hospitality

Have any of you watched the show ‘Come dine with me’? I am slightly addicted to it.

Four people take it in turns to cooks for each other, these people have never meet before, they then mark in secret each others food.

I find it interesting to watch the interplay of the guests as they try and work each other out, who they like, who they don’t, the marking seems to be in line with do I like the person, rather than is the food nice.

In today’s gospel reading we see something similar, the guests eyeing each other up; a tussle for the most prestigious seats. Out of this scene springs Jesus’ “parable” – more advice about wise behaviour, really. Since the parable is also set at a mealtime, its implicit criticism of those grabbing the best places is very thinly veiled. Jesus’ point is that to seek elevated prestige is foolishness, just asking for trouble. Putting yourself on a pedestal only gives you further to fall.

But Jesus also makes the converse point: taking the humble place will lead to our being called to a higher, more “exalted”, position. But surely, we may feel, for all the mockery and setbacks they may suffer, it is the greedy and self- promoting who so often seem to be the ones who get rich, get power and achieve “exaltation”? Indeed, the modern world, dominated by images of super- rich superstars, encourages us aggressively to assert ourselves and seek our own place among the stars.

In society today many are eager to raise their social status, whether by being with the right people, dressing for success, speaking posh or driving the right car.

Who are we trying to impress right now I wonder?

What might Jesus be calling us to do?

2. Humility

In today’s Gospel Reading Jesus appears to advocate “humility” as a strategy, merely a means to the end of “exaltation”. This calls to mind Charles Dickens’ character Uriah Heep, constantly declaring how “’umble” he was, while his humility was a thoroughly!

Such self-serving attitudes are, of course, not what Jesus had in mind. A clue to his real meaning may be found in the words of St Paul in Philippians which state that Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him”. Here again our two key words, humility and exaltation, are connected, but now through the cross of Christ. This is no show of humility but rather God’s Son giving his life, his whole being, in an utterly humiliating manner, for our well-being. This is humility and giving to the limit of what is possible. And it leads to exaltation at the hand of God the Father.

How can we humble ourselves?

Some people try to give the appearance of humility in order to manipulate others. Others think that humility means putting themselves down. I think though that truly humble people compare themselves only with Christ, realise their sinfulness, and understand or have an idea of their limitations. On the other hand, they also recognise their gifts and strengths and are willing to use them as Christ directs. Humility is not, should not be self-degradation; it is realistic assessment and commitment to serve.

3. Kingdom Priority

So what does all this say to us as individuals and as a kingdom community?

In the very first verse in today’s Gospel we read these words ‘The Pharisees watched Jesus closely’ and at the end we read ‘invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

I think Jesus is calling us to a new way of being, he simply wants us to focus on three things

Love Each Other – I don’t just mean the person sitting next to you in the pew but everyone you come into contact with during your life.

We need to become counter culture, we need to be going outside and showing people Jesus, our lives needs to radiate God’s love so people will want to know about him.

Love God - Do we really love God, I mean really love him, we need to develop a deeper understanding of who God is and talk to him in prayer.

Seek his Kingdom - We pray God’s Kingdom Come, God’s will be done, Lets seek God’s will for us.

Amen

Vocation Sermon preached at STMM 8:00 and 10:00am

2010-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Illustration

Even though I’ve know finished studying at Theological College I still get emails once and a while asking for pray, mainly something along the times of please pray for so and so working as Vicar in Manchester, the other day I got one saying, please pray for Daniel who is currently serving Jesus as a window cleaner in Brixton.

This may indeed sound strange, surely you can only really serve God if, your wearing a dog collar right?

Well no, according to the apostle Paul, we can serve Jesus, no matter who pays our wagers or if we’re a volunteer was doing it for free.

When we look at the New Testament letters, we soon discover that God is interested in our daily life; every part of life is to be lived as a follower of Christ.

We can serve Jesus as a window cleaner, digging holes, hanging up washing, changing a washer, preparing the papers for an important meeting, if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then we can claim St Paul’s statement that we are serving Christ.

As a Non stipendiary minister, I commit ten hours a week for doing dog collar type things! Yet I would say that my whole life is committed to this task, I am a Christian first and foremost, and my whole life should reflect this.

I read recently in the paper about a Priest who is also a NSM, who had built up his congregation from just a handful to a congregation totaling over one hundred, he was asked what he put the large increase down to, he smiled and held up a large broom and simply said ‘just this’!

I’m a street cleaner for the local council during the week he said, I walk along picking the litter up, people stop and chat to me about everyday life, they are real with me, no airs and graces they talk to me about life as it really is for them, it’s fantastic he said as his face lit up. I talk the issues through with them; if it feels right I talk to them about my faith.

Sometimes I see people out and about when I have my dog collar on, they are shocked when they see me and ask questions, it’s an amazing privilege, I get to have more contact with non church people this way than I would if I was a full-time Priest

The Priest said it’s all about building up friendship’s and respect, then shutting up and allowing The Holy Spirit to do her stuff!

Work = Who I am?

I’ve noticed that when we meet someone for the very first time, the question we asked more often than not is “What do you do for a living?” we are increasingly defined by our job title , if the answer we give is something like MD, pilot or CEO then people think highly of us and want to associate with us, we are good people to know,!

But if the answer is something like shop assistant, bus driver, street cleaner, house wife or we are retired then we are not as useful to know, we are I’m sad to say seen by society as second class citizens.

We in the western culture are tagged by what we do, we allow our work life to be our ambition our emotional centre, the place we draw our energy and significance from, yet this is highly dangerous as when work becomes that place, what happens when for whatever reason we loose it?

Unemployment is something that many of us are facing right now, it’s a scary thought knowing your job will soon be ending, I’ve not read about this in a book, I know about it first hand, within the next year I will loose my job, the people I work with, have a built up a relationship with will all loose their jobs and there is nothing we can do about it, moral is on a all time low, productive is going down hill, people are leaving to take up new jobs, leaving the rest of us to take on their work load as well, stress is high, the people leaving feel a sense of guilt for leaving the rest of us to take up their work.

Yet I sense Christ is with us, he’s with us in the working week, God calls us to remember our shared humanity, not to rely on our own resources but to seek him first!

Our Gospel reading was about being salt and light, it’s a blue print to an ethical Christian lifestyle, I draw out from it the following points.

1.You are the salt of the earth
We are called to be in the world and at work in it – not a Christian ghetto

God calls us to be role models, not to hide away in churches and only express our faith for an hour on a Sunday morning, God call us to be moral compasses to those we encounter day by day, he calls us to those who are experimenting with life, who sadly come to empty conclusions or tragic consequences, they will hopefully see the wisdom in our life’s and seek to aspire to follow in the Christian way.

While I was on ministry placement at Portsmouth University I was talking to one of the students, she asked me what I was on placement for, I said I was showing the chaplains, she asked what was a chaplain, I explained, she looked utterly shocked, you mean they are Vicar’s, I just thought they were really nice people, I explained well they are very nice and yes are Priests.

Now you could argue that the job of the chaplains is to convert students to the Christian faith, yet what I saw was far more powerful than that, they walked along students and staff, showing them ethical living, showing them new possibilities and that’s what we are called to do in different ways.

Just this last Friday, I was at the gym, a young lad was on the bike next to me, he normally says hello but nothing much else, this time he needed to chat, he’s just been to the doctors, to get the results of his HIV test. He said these last few weeks had been hellish, waiting for the results, he was worried sick all day, thinking through ‘the what if’s…’ five minutes with the doctor could change his life forever. The doctor told him he was totally clear, you could see the sense of relief on his face, but he said it’s now got him thinking about what if the results come back differently how would he have coped etc.. He felt a sense of guilt that he had come through with an all clear yet there are many each day who are not so lucky!

I just listened, no condemnation, no quick fix ideas, that’s what we are called to do, sometimes just to be, just to be the vulnerable person walking the same path.

Jesus last commandment before he went to the cross was a simple statement but one we find so hard to achieve, it’s this “Love each other as I have loved you”

Easy really, but why do we have so much trouble achieving it, As a church we need to look at this statement a truly live it out, what does it mean to love as Christ loves?

I’ve done some work with the Portsmouth Street Pastors, some of the issues which people come up to them with are these:

• A homeless female, she asked for pray for both her protection and that of her daughter.

• A young guy who wasn’t allowed in his church because of his sexuality.

• A man who had just left his wife. He wanted prayer for healing in this relationship and the protection of any children involved in this situation.

• A marine captain, returning to Afghanistan in about two weeks time. Please continue to pray for both his protection and safety and all those we meet who are in the military.

The Street Pastors can’t make things better, they all which they could, but they can listen, they can pray. They are showing Christ’s love.

2. You are the light of the world…. That they may see your good works
We are called to be distinctive, to stand out from the crowd.

Crowds can be a potent force, both for good and for evil can’t they?

We only need to look at Hitler, how he worked on the crowds gathered to hear him at massed rallies. His words skillfully crafted to work them up into outbursts of frenzied enthusiasm. He was the great leader they had been looking for. Guided by him, the people would achieve the heights of patriotic greatness. Even the religious leaders allied themselves to his cores, so powerful where his words, also I think they might have been frightened to some extent to go against the crowd.

It’s so hard to break away from the crowd and speak out against what is going on, yet sometimes that’s what’s needed.

In society today, attending church is not high priority, shops are open, world cups on the TV, our young people are out with friends, playing games, I could go on!

As Christians, we need to look like we’ve got something worth having, we need to look saved rather than condemned! If anyone is ever going to believe in our living God, we need to be shining lights. As people of God’s light we can disturb those around us, showing them a new way of being. We need to learn or re-learn God’s rule of life, not the worlds and to apply it to everyday life.

3. Glorify your father in heaven.
It is God’s light that shines through us – we are seeking to reveal God in the world that he has made.

The world, God’s World is intelligential bankrupted as far as purpose is concerned, relativism has really had its day, and there are few leaders in our world of real conviction, thy mostly just want to stay in power rather than have a great ideology to pursue and into that vacuum the Christian Church has the opportunity to take God’s view and values and take it to the world of debate and to argue and pursued that this is the wise and proper way to think and live.

Conclusion

I want to encourage all who truly believe in Christ that we as a church need to take our vocation as a church and as individuals seriously; we need to be come beacons to lead others to Christ.

God has send us to fulfill our God given tasks, we act though that we have chosen how, where and with whom we live and work, like we’ve simply been dropped down into creation and can now decide how to entertain ourselves until we die, we were sent into the world by God, just

as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.

So what are you doing tomorrow morning at 10:00am, how can the church support you better, what would you like prayer for, tell us, we want to support each and every one of you, I heard once of a church that prayed for it’s Sunday School Teacher, yet never asked her how she was doing as a special needs teacher facing many challenges, needed time off work due to stress. God cares about you, beyond comprehension, let’s be a church that shows that love in action and on our knees.

As you get up tomorrow morning remember Christ goes before you into whatever the day holds for you.

As we come to the end of this series of sermons lets start living our 5 a day and see what God does among us, I pray that God might come afresh and surprise us in new and wonderful ways.

-------------------------------

Lord, open our eyes that we may see with your eyes as we walk, open our ears that we may hear what you want us to hear

Touch our hearts that we may feel the way you feel about your world and enable us to fell the presence of the Holy Spirit with us each day.

Guide our path to those you would have us meet May we bring the Samaritans touch to all those in need.

And give us your wisdom in our hearts when they ask about you. And keep us safe we pray both physically and spiritually in all that we do your name

The future?

2010-06-23T03:54:00.001-07:00

I’m getting very frustrated by life at the moment, things are not turning out the way I’d hoped they would. I’m stuck in a dead end job mainly answering the phone these days and doing head dumbing jobs no one wants to do. It’s getting me down and making me feel utterly worthless. What I want to do, others are telling me I should be doing is ministry, I want to be full-time or maybe part-time would do, yet the church have got me in a box and can’t see beyond it, can’t risk letting me try, it’s getting me down!

Not Good at all!

2010-06-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

I had to go for a blood test today at local Hospital. This was not the bad news, I found out when i got there, they had appointed a new Assistant Hospital Chaplin, the job I wanted, which I was told I could not apply for as I've not been ordained 4 years plus yet! What makes it worse is that the person appointed is not ordained!

I'm sure she will so a great job but it still annoys me, gerrrrr!

Sermon preached 6th June at STMM 8:00am Communion

2010-06-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” (Luke 7:13)

I doubt there is anyone here who has not experienced some form of grief and loss at the death of someone close to us. Each experience of bereavement is unique and brings its own particular suffering. At such times we may turn to family and friends for support, yet still feel very alone.

“Where is God?

Does he really care?” a question asked by many!

Gospel Teaching

In today’s Gospel a widow has lost her only son. She is now totally alone in the world. Not only is the joy of her heart dead, but her security is gone. Who will provide for her now?

How will she, a poor woman, eke out a living? She leads the bier out of the town to the burial ground, a large crowd behind her wailing loudly, knowing the immensity of her loss. They have come out in force to support her, yet she feels alone in her grief.

Jesus and his disciples come upon the funeral procession as it leaves the city gate and he immediately perceives the depths of the woman’s misery and helplessness.

No one asks him to do anything and there is no mention of anyone’s faith.

Unlike Jairus, begging for Jesus to heal his daughter, and being told “just believe”, the widow says nothing, asks for nothing. Perhaps she is so overwhelmed by grief that she has no hope. There is nothing to ask for.

But Jesus knows her helplessness and despair. “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” Of course the woman is bound to be weeping, but Jesus encourages her not to despair in her grief. He is with her and there is hope.

It is interesting to note that it is as Jesus looks at the woman with compassion that he is called “the Lord”. This is the first time this title is used in the narrative of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus’ compassion is a revelation of God’s compassion, just as the power he will shortly display is an expression of God’s power.

Throughout the story, the focus is on Jesus’ response to the woman’s suffering. He takes the initiative.

He sees her pain and isolation and he acts out of sheer compassion for her sake. There is also a poignancy in the encounter; we are reminded that one day his own widowed mother will lose her only son.

Jesus touches the bier and the bearers stand still, no doubt horrified. He has broken the purity laws by touching that which is untouchable.

What on earth is going on? Jesus then addresses the young man and his words have life-giving power.

He is raised to life and Jesus gives him back to his mother. This stranger has restored her world; at the same time, he has changed it for ever.

How can we apply this today?

I think this passes has particular resonance this week as we heard about the tragic shootings in Cumbria, why do these things happen, where is God in all this we may ask? We long to know God’s coming alongside us in compassion and transforming our sufferings through his power. Sometimes we may be so blinded by misery that we are unaware of God, or even shut him out. Like the widow of Nain, we may be paralysed by grief and unable to ask anything of God. We are trapped in our own helplessness and despair.

Yet we can trust God knows and God cares for everyone of us. Christ comes alongside us in the darkest of places, those places in our lives where we don’t want to inhabit, Christ goes before us.

As Jesus touched the bier, so he touches those ouch places of our hearts and lives.

Christ the healer addresses us directly: “Do not despair, I am here.”

Knowing Christ’s compassion for us, we can trust in his life-giving power, however that may manifest itself.

We may not, of course, see the immediate transformation which the widow saw in receiving her son back from the dead; but yet Jesus is with us, speaking and acting in ways we may not expect, and he can bring new life and hope in the midst of helplessness and loss.

However bitter our grief or grim our suffering, the Lord sees, has compassion and calls us to trust that through him ultimately life triumphs over death and all will be well.

Dare to be Daniel

2010-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

If you had to pick a character from the bible, either from the Old or the New testament who you see as a good role model for today, who would you choose?

I think I’d choose Daniel, we all need role models, I think Daniel is a good one, he lived a good ethical, moral life, one I think we should all try and emulate.

Today’s reading comes at the end of a section that is mainly biographical, then next being more apocalyptic. We see Daniel on the verge of loosing his life, but Daniel never stops learning, God is leading him on in his relationship of trust in him.

Daniel was taken into exile just before 600BC and it is now 539BC he has been a key player in public life on and off for over 60 years Darius the Meade had taken over that part of the world, Darius was military man, he is a manager and having taken over he was very much in charge, he has 3 presidents (including Daniel), 120 satraps to run his empire for him.

He however appears to have no real knowledge of God, but his is shrews enough to be a very good judge of character, he can see a good honest man when he seems one, so he picks Daniel who is nothing if not committed, competent, efficient and trust worthy just the kind of guy you’d want by your side to advise you.

Darius however had a weakness, he loved to be flattered, we read in verse 6 “so the presidents and satraps conspired and come to the king and said to him, O King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the straps, the counsellors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prayers to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, o king, shall be thrown into a den of lions. Now, O king establish the interdict and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. There King Darius signed the document and the interdict”

You see that, kind of approach appealed to his vanity and like the king before him he doubtless thought yes, if everyone is focused on me, I’m the object of there adoration, this will surely aid the political cohesion of my new empire, but he soon realised that of course he’s been set up, Daniel’s colleagues had become jealous, Daniel was inline for the number two position, they were envious.

They can find no legitimate way of beating Daniel; they have looked into ever areas of his life and can find no fault, he is head and shoulders above all of them in ability and integrity, so they played the game of lies and half truths.

So we have in verse 7 All the presidents of the kingdom had agreed about this new interdict, well I can think of one of them who wouldn’t have agreed, can’t you?

Yes Daniel, I think he would have strongly apposed this idea, had he been given the opportunity to vote.

So they lied and in verse 13 we see them playing the game of half truths, Daniel pays no attention to you O King, well that clearly is not true, Daniel still prayers three times a day, well yes, they are right about that at lest!

The King by now sees through it, he was it says in verse 14 was very much distressed, he says he was demined to save Daniel, obviously not hard enough, because he allowed himself to be bound by his own laws, he was unnecessarily legalist, he’s become trapped in a system which he’s supposed to be the absolute ruler, the law has lost all credibility.

The King was however like Daniel is still learning, verse 16 May you God whom you faithfully serve, deliver you! Or verse 18 Then the King went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

The King could not sleep, it was effectively a night of prayer and fasting, the next morning he rushes to the Lions Den and he shouts Daniel servant of the living God, has he been able to rescue you? Well not only was God able to rescue him he has done so, Daniel is unharmed having sat in the Lions den all night.

So Darius by now is a convert and he despatches the evil advisors and issues a decree which is a testimony to his transformation, verse 25 Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language through the whole world: “May you have abundant prosperity! I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and earth; for he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

Now this Darius was a very significant convert, he was a player in God’s big plan; it was under him that the Jews in exile were able to return after 70 years of captivity, they were able to return to the Promised Land, to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and to get things set up for the arrival of Christ 400 years latter.

People like Daniel have a quality of live which is truly inspiring; they are people of character and competence.

God calls us to be role models to be moral compasses to those we encounter day by day, and he calls us to those who are experimenting with life, who sadly come often to empty conclusions or tragic consequences, they will hopefully see the wisdom in your life and seek to aspire to follow in the Christian way.

So Daniel is very trustworthy he is neither corrupt nor negligent when I expect many of those others around him if they were of ability where corrupt and if there were not they were more thank likely negligent, it was mentioned that he had exceptional abilities as he stayed in a high position for so long, but there is an alternative translation which says exceptional spirit, he had the right attitude, ability is one thing, you need that to get on but attitude is just as important, mixed together they are a powerful combination, Daniel was helpful to the King, he was not just technically competent, he was trustworthy and likeable and that for him opened many doors of opportunity, but I think the key to Daniel as a person that he totally depends on God in this alien environment that he has been placed in, God is always the focus of his attention, the centre of his frame work for life.

So we read in verses 6,10 and 11 Daniel get on his knees and prayers 3 times a day, giving thanks to his God, when his jellies colleagues came we read he was praying and asking God for help.

We don’t know how long Daniel spent in prayer but I think you’d agree that 3 times a day is pretty impressive!

Putting words in Daniel’s mouth I think he’d say that Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbours (or those who would do us harm) on our knees But I’m sure there is no one here who finds praying easy, if you do then I’d like to know your secret! I think I’d be right in saying this is a focus that most churches have,

How and what do we pray?

How does prayer define us as a community?

But for Daniel even though he was like a Prime Minister, very busy he always found time for prayer, not just when he could, he made space three times a day when he encountered the living God, he reflected on his life through God’s eyes, this was not just something to do when he was bored it was just if not more important than eating. Don’t you find the urgent pushes out the important, we have to fight hard with ourselves to make sure the important beats the urgent, but if we do believe something is important then we do make space in our busy lives for it, this may take effect, but as we cultivate good habit it becomes much easier.

Next Daniel comes full of thanks when he comes in prayer to God, when God is actually really involved in our lives we can see through the eyes of providence that he is working things out in a certain way, even if it’s very difficult and we can’t really understand what God is up to, we need to thank God for sticking by us. Daniel had no end of things to thank God for

1. His King – for him coming closer to God and for his conversion to the one true God

2. Daniel is thankful that he a pensioner well into his 80’s has been given a new lease of live to serve God a new – there is no retirement in the service of God

3. Then Daniel would have got down to his own personal concerns, that of his own life which was now at risk.

4. Daniel prayed on his knees, I don’t think God is fussed if we stand or knee, Elijah after all prayer with his head between his legs – I bet he didn’t keep that up for very long! But I think praying on your knees just give a sense of seriousness and humility which are necessary for approaching God!

5. Daniel had a passion, he prayed towards the west, towards Jerusalem, Daniel was there to get the exiled people back to the Promised Land, he was praying into that situation that God’s will would be done.

So Daniel is truly an example to us, many of us only prayer only when there is a personal crisis, Daniel is one who is always on his knees in prayer to the living God, communicating with him.

It’s said that a Dog is a man’s best friend, I’ve got a 1 year old border terrier and I take her for long walks, I find it’s the time when I can pray most effectively.

Daniel has a great deal to teach us as westerners at this time I think apathy often rules, where everyone does whatever feels right in their own eyes and where the moral and spiritual devastation is widespread.

So to finish I feel we can learn three things for Daniel

1. We can learn from Daniel about Truth……

Truth is vital, Daniel stood for what was true, and I’d say our world is intelligential bankrupted as far as purpose is concerned, relativism has really had its day, and there are few leaders of real conviction, thy mostly just want to stay in power rather than have a great ideology to pursue and into that vacuum the Christian Church has the opportunity to take God’s view and values and take it to the world of debate and to argue and pursued that this is the wise and proper way to think and live.

2. We can learn from Daniel about Character …

We also need character, we need to look like we’ve got something worth having, we need to look saved rather than condemned! If anyone is ever going to believe in our living God, we need people like Daniel who’s live was a first rate example.

So are we spectators of the world or are we grounded in it, are we doing enough, we might be well to apply the example of Daniel into the areas where we spend most of our time, Daniel was Salt and Light he disturbed those around him. We need to learn or re-learn God’s rule of life, not the worlds and to apply it to everyday life.

3. We can learn from Daniel about Prayer …

We have forgotten God in our busyness to serve him, is God in that Frame work of our daily lives? I want to call us back to a life prayer.

Do we dare to break out of the trappings of our everyday Weston secular life’s and live a life of prayer and obedience?

Do you dare to step out of the crowd and be a Daniel?

---------

Let us pray:

Heavenly father we thank your for your prophet Daniel, we pray that in our particular area and those we connect with we might be salt and light like Daniel was, we ask you to inspire us in prayer and drive us out to do your will.

The God who wastes nothing

2010-04-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

The God who wastes nothing - what does this say to you, say to us as a community of faith, how how we be shaped by it, or maybe transformed.

Good Friday Meditation

2010-04-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

He, Jesus carried my sins and your sins,

He carried the harsh words, the pride, and the petty excuses we use to defend ourselves

He carried our self importance, our self reliance, he carried every wrong decision we have ever made or will make.

He’s carried all our wrong doing, all the times we’ve taken the easy way, the wrong way, our way, not the Jesus way.

Jesus carried the times we’ve seen someone suffer and failed to helped, the times we’ve fiddled our expenses claim, the times we’ve separated sex and love and decided that’s really ok.

He’s carried the lies, we’ve told, the times we’ve put ourselves first.

Jesus stooped down, heaped all our sins upon himself and took them all to the cross for us, what did we do to thank him? We spat on him, we ridiculed him, made fun, gambled for his clothes, and we joked and laughed as we made sure we got a good view.

We’ve just watched Jesus walk by us, he was there, right there, but we did nothing to help, he is without sin, yet he’s taken your sin, my sin upon himself, the weight of it all was unimaginable, but Jesus wanted rid of it, so he took it all, he took it to the cross and crucified all our sins, each and everyone one of our sins, then Jesus took them to the tomb and buried them.

Jesus carries all our sins, he carries them in love, Jesus carries the sins of the world, meaning every sin, there is no such thing as a large or small sin, they all separate us from a fuller, deeper relationship with God, who is longing for us to return to him.

Jesus gathered up the broken fragments of our lives, the poor imitation of who God intended us to be he looked at us in love and said I love you, I love you, you are beautiful in my sight, go and sin no more.

Let us pray

Jesus, our friend, your death was contrived by those who were blind, twisting events to suit their needs.
So write your gospel on our hearts and mind that we yearn for justice by your laws.

And when we betray you to suit our needs, may we hear the cock crowing, turn towards your love and try again to live your gospel every day.

Amen

Holy Saturday

2010-04-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

I was amazied on Good Friday the number of people who wised me a Happy Easter, grrrr! It's not Easter yet.

I think we know the Easter story far too well that we're not intrested in the doom and gloom of Holy Week we just want the excitment of Palm Sunday and the celebration of Easter Day thank you very much!

But I'd like to suggest that to fully apprciate Easter Day and what it really means we need to sit with the feeling of utter despire and dispondancy of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, sit with it, imagine what Jesus follwers would have been feeling right now, what those who hated Jesus might have said to them.

Then imagine on Easter Day just how his followers whould have been feeling, what those who hated must have thought, I wonder if any of them had a rethink?

Sin

2010-03-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

Everytime I sin it's like putting another nail into Jesus hand's and feet - a young down's man said this to me, I find this image very powerful.

Palm Sunday Sermon 2010

2010-03-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

“He answered, ‘I tell you, if these [people in the crowd] were silent, the stones would shout out.’” (Luke 19:40)

Illustration

Crowds can be a potent force, both for good and for evil can’t they?

Politicians have always been aware of this, and of their own ability to influence the crowd in either direction.

We only need to look at Hitler, how he worked on the crowds gathered to hear him at massed rallies. His words skillfully crafted to work them up into outbursts of frenzied enthusiasm. He was the great leader they had been looking for. Guided by him, the people would achieve the heights of patriotic greatness. Even the religious leaders allied themselves to his cores, so powerful where his words, also I think they might have been frightened to some extent to go against the crowd.

Churchill refused to be intimidated by Hitler. “We shall not flag or fail,” he growled. “We shall fight on the beaches and we shall fight in the fields and in the streets and we shall never surrender.” His words served to rally a nation standing alone and facing disaster.

Gospel Teaching

Today, we remember the significance of the part played by the crowd in the unfolding events of the last days of Jesus’ earthly life. From what Luke tells us, it seems that the demonstration grew from fairly small beginnings: as he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks in the road. It was a spontaneous gesture, rather than a response to anything that Jesus had said, or any attempt on his part to stir up the crowd. The movement grew as he neared the city: as he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude began to praise God joyfully for all the deeds of power they had seen.

Jesus is tried before Pilate. Pilate can find no wrong in him and wants to release Jesus, but is prevailed upon by the crowd who demand his crucifixion, an act which involves at least three other people: Simon of Cyrene, the penitent thief, and the centurion who stands guard by the cross.

We can have some idea of the impact on the tightly enclosed walled city. Visitors to Jerusalem cannot help but be struck by the narrow dimensions of the Old City, with its labyrinth of small shops and stalls, each displaying their wares in the confined space outside. Even now, there is barely room for visitors to pass, let alone a crowd following a man sitting astride a donkey, probably with a will of its own, and reluctant to move ahead without constant prodding. Add to that a wildly enthusiastic following crowd, chanting slogans loaded with Messianic expectation, and we get some idea of the impact of the moment.

It was an explosive situation in which the leader was expected to respond to the crowd by fulfilling their hopes and delivering their aspirations. Jesus did nothing of the sort. He had come to Jerusalem, the city of God’s peace, to claim the city and the hearts and minds of its people in the name of his heavenly Father. It is a mission which will end, and perhaps can only end, in death and apparent failure. The crowd which had welcomed Jesus with wild enthusiasm on Palm Sunday would, within a few days, be calling for his crucifixion. Jesus was well aware of this and knew what the end would be. The crowd were an unknown quantity, and not to be relied upon. So he makes this response to the Pharisees when they tell him to silence the crowd: “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”

Application

Being part of a crowd can be a powerful feeling can’t it? We can leave behind our usual restraints and inhibitions. We can dare to be ourselves and express our true feelings. This can be especially true when we are part of a religious crowd. We feel uplifted; experience a great surge of enthusiasm as we sing hymns together, pray together, worship together.

As we think of the crowds surrounding Jesus on Palm Sunday, and the part they played in the events of those days, it can be a good time to step aside from the crowd. We need to examine our own faith, our own commitment to the crucified and risen Lord. We need to be satisfied within ourselves that with all our imperfections and failures, we can still hold our personal faith with integrity. Then there will be no need for the stones of Jerusalem to cry out on our behalf.

But our integrity and ethical practices are sometimes hard to standby, we can easily be swayed as we saw with Hitler, it’s easer to just go with the flow than to stand up and be counted, keep quite and moan is the safer route isn’t it?

Work can feel like a struggle at times can’t it? We can be made to feel like we are useless, worthless, yet we keep going, putting a brave face on everything even though inside we are dying!

Many today are facing redundancy, issues relating to discrimination, debt or other issues, I think sometimes we as Christians need to stand up from among the crowd and be counted; we need to be the moral compass where we are to see what’s happening and speak out.

The people who were standing shouting Hosanna on that first Palm Sunday, where not Jesus disciples, they were bystanders just following the crowd, are we here just because we are following a crowd, we want to be seen, to be here, or are we here because we seek a personal relationship with God?

What difference are we making as individuals or as the body of Christ to the world we live in, are we standing up for those who are suffering injustice or are we just following the beat of the world and just following the crowd and it’s next whim?

Things to think about?

So where you are right now?

Are you the crowd just going with the flow, knowing things are wrong but feel too frightened to step out?

Or maybe your one of the crowd who is sensing something is not quite right, questing, searching for other paths?

May we all this Easter time spend time away from the crowd and hear the living God call our name afresh. Amen

Will the real you please stand up

2010-03-26T01:59:00.000-07:00

Who do you wish you were like?

It’s so easy to look at others around us and compare our lives to those we think have it better than us.

We want to: Look, articulate, have the same intellect, wear the same branding of clothing, have the latest gadget as those we admire because in some strange way it’s going to make us better people, it’s going to help us feel better.

Yet we don’t see beyond the looks, the well thought out words, the mask we all wear of respectability, we don’t see through these to the broken life, that person we admire wears a mask just like us, only when they are on their own does it slip, they are no better or worse than us, if we only knew.

I think there are plenty of people who look at us with envy, wishing they were just like us, I think that’s an important point to remember, surely it’s better to try and be the best version of you, you can, than trying to be a poor imitation of someone else?

So let’s stop living pretend lives and live the life that is ours, our God given life, let’s start being honest with one another, develop a culture of care for each other, that way we can start loving who we are and not striving to be someone else, because they are better than we are, or so we think.

God after all made each one of us, we are each unique, there has never been anyone like us or ever will be again, God loves us beyond word and time, I think it’s time we begin to accept ourselves as God accepts us.

John 12:1-8 Sermon St Peters, Petersfield 21st March 2010

2010-03-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

Fly on the wall documenters seem to be the big thing these days with television producers Channel 4’s show ‘Big brother’ seems to be a hit for many of us, I hear about the goings on from those I work with, and through facebook so there is no real need for me to waste time watching it!

Today’s Gospel reading feels a bit like a fly on the wall documentary, we are eves dropping on Jesus and those he is close to, John the writer of the Gospel is the narrator giving us insights into the characters we are watching.

Jesus meal with his closest friends should be a time for him to feel chilled out and supported, not one of destruction or violence, a time when he feels alone and isolated.

The scene that now confronts us is one of Jesus badly needing his followers to be united at this moment, when the rest of the world is plotting against him; his friends might at least have the decency, you would think to stick together and back him! Sadly though you can feel the tension rising, something big is about to kick off here, and I for one don’t want to be around to see what happens!

Judas kicks off against Mary, asking her why she was wasting good oil that could be sold to help the poor, Mary is busy anointing Jesus feet with very expensive oil, then wiping them with her hair, she seems unfazed by Judas outburst, everyone in the room must have been in total shock and wonder what on earth Mary thought she was doing.

John the writer of the Gospel seems clear where the blame lies. Judas, he says, had in any case been helping himself out of the common purse, so his reaction to Mary was in any case not as sincere as many of the people in the room thought he was.

Jesus rebuff to Judas seems a little strange it suggests that Mary had been keeping this expensive perfume to anoint his body after death. In other words her act of love to Jesus was a prophetic statement about the fact that before too long Jesus is going to be buried – and buried so hastily that there might not be proper time to anoint him as the custom required, so he’d better have it right now, Jesus seemed to hint to those in the room that his time with them was closing to an end, but we don’t get the idea that any of them picked up on this.

Jesus stated the importance of the poor, the kingdom blessings that would come on them. The only explanation is that Jesus believed that his coming death would be an action through which the world as a whole, including the world of poverty and all that went with it, would be put right.

We who live on the other side of his death and resurrection, are still faced with a world that is not perfect

Young soldiers killed at war, only just out of school themselves

Men and women attacked.

The list could go on; we live in an evil world, we have, as the bible says lost our first love that is God, we have moved him aside and put our own needs first.

Where have our kingdom priorities gone?

We can be a complacent church living here in Petersfield, poverty is not in our face, we don’t trip over it as we walk out the door in the morning, life is pretty good here, yet as a church community we are called to love and serve, are we a serving church or are we like Judas a storing up church for our own needs, for our own priories?

The church is sadly a minority group in society these days, we only need to step outside and see many people shopping consumerism is what many worship these days, but they still seek something, that something is Jesus, Jesus calls us as a church into the wilderness with him to seek out the lost, the lonely the down right scared and help them meet with Jesus, it’s not easy but that is what we are called to do.

There is no escaping the challenges posed by the stand off between Mary and Judas. It is one of those scenes which positively shout at the reader,

‘Where are you in this picture?’

Are you with the shameless Mary, worshipping Jesus with our entire ‘being’ totally focused on him and letting nothing get in our way of worshipping our loving God?

Or perhaps you’re with the prudent, seemingly reliable Judas, as he must have seemed to most of the onlookers, looking after the meagre resources of a group without a steady income, anxious to provide for their needs and still have something left over to give to the poor?

So which one are you Mary or Judas?

Put aside your natural inclination to distance yourself from Judas. After all, even at the last moment none of the other disciples had suspected him of treachery. Can you see a glimpse of Judas in yourself?

Or Are we one of the disciples looking on, not making a fuss? If so, how are you feeling right now about Mary and Judas? How do you feel about Jesus, and what he said?

God is doing a new thing among his people through his son Jesus, be prepared to let go of the old things that bind you, God is urging us to look out for the ‘water in the wilderness’ – are we ready to look with Mary or are we bound and blind like Judas?

Modern Technology

2010-03-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

Hands up who’s got a facebook profile?
Who uses twitter?
Who’s got no idea what I’m talking about and really does not care?

Modern Technology is great, it allows us to communicate in so many different ways, I can talk using skype to my friend in Japan and it’s like we are sitting next to each other. Yet it has its dangers as well, we can use facebook etc to the extent that we lose contact with the real word, we forget what its like to talk to our friends in real life, to kick a football about or watch a film together.

We can build up a community online of only people who think and act just like us, whereas in real life we have to life along side people who think, look and behave differently.

Technology can alienate you as well, if your not up with the latest Xbox game or you don’t have a Wi or you don’t have a mobile, then you almost seen as being slightly odd, which is bad isn’t it?

Many years ago, the devil had a meeting and called all his agents together, we’ve got a problem he hissed! God thinks he got those humans right where he wants them, we have to come up with something to distract them and get them thinking of anything else than God!

So I’m going to put a new plan into operation which just might work.

Let’s get them putting satellites on their roofs and filling their hours with TV and Radio 24-7, entertainment systems and computers that they will sit at for hours wasting time. Listening to music wherever and whatever they are doing.

Children get the latest technological gadget in their bedrooms, playing them into the early hours, making them tired, and stopping them from doing their homework and so much more, parents getting annoyed and stressed!

Bingo, God is totally forgotten about and binned like last weeks Xbox game!

I think there is a real danger that we are losing our grip on what it’s like to live in the real word as we spend more time living in a virtual world. Lent is a time when we should STOP! Stop and refocus ourselves on what really matters in life! Maybe you could stop playing your favourite game, leave the computer alone for an entire day and go and see a friend or maybe if your really keen talk to your parents?

Acceptance

2010-02-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

I find it hard to accept myself as I am; I have a low confidence level, always seeing others and wishing I was like them somehow, judging my abilities or lack of them against others who I perceive to be better than me.

Each time I receive the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, I pray that I would accept myself as Christ accepts me, yet I find this so hard to achieve. I know in my heart that I do have abilities; there are areas where I’m stronger than others but I still can’t help but feel low and worthless.

I’m also feeling like I don’t fit anywhere any more, work is frustrating and boring, ministry I’m not sure what I’m doing any more with that one, home life is difficult as well. I sometimes end the day crying as I’m totally frustrated by everything. I’m thinking now that it’s all tied up with the acceptance issue as well, I’m not sure.

I think it’s time for a change, but not sure what as yet!

What is the spiritual meaning of work in our lives?

2010-02-04T01:54:00.001-08:00

If you won £1m in the TV game-show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? would you go into work the following Monday morning? Is work something irksome that must be endured so that we may eat, enjoy quality leisure time, and retire as early as possible? Is it more integral to personal identity and one of the blessings of God’s creation?

The twin problems of today’s ‘high-pressure, burn-out’ workplaces and unemployment make some Christian theologies of vocation seem idealistic. The global implications of the West’s lust for cheap consumer goods pose major challenges to any moral case for prosperity. In Work, for God’s Sake Esther Reed tackles these questions within a biblical framework, and sketches a theological ethic of work in the hope of God’s coming kingdom.

Christmas Eve Celebration Sermon

2010-01-04T08:12:00.001-08:00

It was Monday morning, the angles were at their desks, suddenly a email pinged up, it was from the boss, staff meeting in 5 minutes, a great sigh went up and they all reluctantly filed into the board room. God was not a happy bunny, he was pacing up and down, Gabriel the senior angel spoke up, what’s up boss, you seem worried, after a few seconds, God spoke, It’s those human’s they are losing the plot big time , but I’ve come up with a plan a risky plan that I’m hoping will bring them back to me, the angels looked concerned, what’s he up to know, has he lost the plot?

I’m going to send my son, my beloved and only son Jesus down to earth, not as he is now but in the form of a helpless baby, I’ve lined up a nice human couple called Mary and Joseph, they will look after him , the angles looked at each other, not really believing what they had heard, holy smoke they thought, he’s risking his boy just to save those smelly human’s, God one of the junior angles said why don’t you just turn the air off and start again it would be so much easier, God gave him the stare, you know the kind of stare your mum gives when you just know not to even go any further with that line of thought!

That was not an option even giving credence to, God had sent his mind on this course of action, God was risking everything, man the angles thought he really does love these human’s if only they new just how much!

Jesus didn’t come to earth with a crash and bang, he arrived quietly in a borrowed smelly manger, in the middle of now where to two young people, homeless with no money, neither a social mover, just normal people, like you and me, Jesus does not just come to save certain people, the chosen few, he has no shopping list, God through Jesus wants to save each and everyone of us, God wants us back in a relationship with him, not tomorrow, not next week, but right now.

At the start of the service we heard a track, entitled look for me, the singing is searching for something, some kind of meaning, the answer to his question and ours is your looking for Jesus.

Epiphany Sermon

2010-01-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

So it’s early in the morning and three Kings just turn up out of the blue, they had been star gazing and noticed a star that was different than normal, so they followed the star that lead them directly to the stable and Jesus.

Star gazing reminds me of the vastness of space, the outer reaches of the universe, the great mystery that only God knows about and understands.

Today we celebrate Epiphany when the Magi turned up to worship Jesus, epiphany means manifestation or appearing, it’s what I would call a eureka moment. Our faith is a ‘eureka’ faith: it revolves around the belief that God chooses to be revealed to human beings, and that this revelation is the basis upon which new realities can be imagined. The story of the epiphany of the magi highlights the fact that divine revelation can appear in many different ways – in this instance, through pagan astrology!

We have no way of knowing whether the story of the magi is true, what matters more to me is that the early Christians chose to include this story in the Gospel narrative, and that human longing for a new reality was linked to gazing at stars.

Star gazing can be a spiritual experience. I guess it’s to do with perspective, When we want to see new possibilities we say ‘the sky’s the limit’. In other words: there are no limits. An open sky reminds us that limits are self-imposed: there are always other possibilities, other realities, if we only had the faith to follow the star to follow God into new possibilities.

As we enter a new year we are called to follow the magi once again and become star gazers and not navel gazers. Navel gazers can’t see beyond themselves – their own self-imposed horizons. Star Gazers forget about themselves, become part of a far bigger picture. They dare to believe that something else is possible, that change can happen that the way things have been need not determine the way things will be.

The magi were adventures, they new they didn’t know everything, that there was more to learn, more to see, they were prepared to leave their familiar surroundings, prepared to explore beyond their self imposed boxes, prepared to recognise God in other forms, but are we that willing?

I thank the early church for incorporating this story in their account of Christ’s birth, a story of people journeying to God, not through scripture, or a voice of a prophet but thorough the guidance of the stars interpreted with pagan insight.

Deep within everyone there is a star gazer, we long for God to reside within our hearts. St Augustine said ‘God has made us for himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him again’.

The church’s task is to connect with this God-longing which is inherent within each of us no matter who we are and what form this longing comes. Sadly however the church is caught up in its own navel gazing issues – more concerned with its own agenda for its own survival than with the agenda of God’s kingdom in the world. We urgently need to remember that in the beginning the church was a by-product of the kingdom of God, and not the other way around.

Far too often we are not listening to God’s still small voice of calm talking directly to us right here right now! We are far too busy excluding those people whom God is including, we talk about not making God in our image but I think we do and we need to revisit the scriptures and find space to hear God afresh and be surprised by God once again.

My dream for the church in the next decade is to become a place where:

We accept people of other faiths to learn from them, encounter other dimensions of our awesome God.Seeing true value in both old and youngAccepting of both gay men and lesbian women as equal’s loved and made by the same God.Listening to its community no matter how painful that might be.Seeing value in the person with a mental illness / depression and walking with them through life.
Prophetic, not scared to speak out.To be safe haven for those on drugs or homeless or just out of prison.Not hung up on statistics but on serving their missionary God.
Not afraid to be real and does not hide behind a mask of respectability Finally I dream of a church that does not have all the answers but is totally reliant on God the Answer and the Question.That is my dream, is it too foolish? sometimes I think it is, other times I see glimpses of the dream becoming a reality only to be crushed, one day I pray it truly will, if not now when Jesus returns.So let’s refocus our vision our energy on God’s Kingdom,

On God’s priorities for this age and become better at serving him and bringing about his kingdom here on earth.

I end with this pray:

God of Israel, light of all nations, made known in the gifts, of those who call to other names and walk on different paths; may unjust powers and the hatred within us be dismayed by your friendship and dethroned by your love; through Jesus Christ, the open arms of grace. Amen

Christmas Day Sermon 2009 8:00am

2010-01-04T03:08:00.000-08:00

Surprises – Christmas Morning

The company that could manufacture ‘joy’ and market it in person-sized packages, would be an over night success, Alan Sugar would be very impressed and want to buy the idea, sadly many have tried, and many have failed in dramatic fashion. Everyone lets face it is searching for the magic ingredient that will make the day joyful and bigger and better than last year, we are encouraged to get ourselves into huge debt, buy Waitrose up in one shop to make the best Christmas ever.

Yet this comes at a cost, we hear on TV and Radio of people committing suicide, family break ups, many people simply dread the approach of Christmas, We get so caught up in buying the perfect present, by Boxing Day we are exhausted and too tired to care any more!

Ok that’s the doom and gloom over with; today we celebrate God giving joy to the world, total uncontained, unlimited JOY! So what did the shepherds understand but eludes us today? What are we totally missing the point on?

I wonder if it’s because we try too hard to make the day special with gifts etc, after all shepherds weren’t expecting anything, plus they were too poor to have brought anything if they had been warned known! For the shepherds it was another night on the hillside, just getting on with their routine work, then things started to happen they could never of imagined, you’ve got it God turned up!

First a visitation from some heavenly hosts – enough to make anyone jump, the angles didn’t send a celestial email to ask if it was ok to pop down, the news they had was to momentous that it had to be given without delay, yet the first people to be told were not kings or anyone important in the social scare but humble, smelly uneducated shepherds, they had no image to defend, they in fact had noting apart from the clothes they were wearing and some sheep, yet they received God’s message from the angel, once the initial shock had past they went to Bethlehem without any questioning.

Mary and Joseph must have also been a little shocked to find some unexpected guests and their sheep just turning up! No chance to tidy the stable up or even bake a cake or put the kettle on, they will just have to take them as they found them!

I think God says the same, come on, come and search for me, when you find me your have to take me as I am, where will we find God this Christmas day? Certainly in the hospitality of our friends and family. But maybe more visibly and powerfully, in the faces of those who have no home, no friends, and no resources behind which to hide their extreme vulnerability. A surprise visit to such a person would perhaps surprise us with the warmth it would generate.

Surprises are the very essence of Christmas morning. All those gifts we have carefully concealed are be joyfully unwrapped, some parents I expect where woken at silly o’clock this morning as they were leaped upon in bed with demands to ‘LOOK! And to join in with the new game, admire the new doll; share in the joy of it all. The bigger the surprise, the less it can be contained. And all our unwrapping and our sharing is just a faint reflection of God’s own great act of unwrapping himself, to reveal a helpless baby in the arms of two inexperienced parents, It was the mother and father of all surprises. It really no wonder the shepherds ran off to tell everyone they met about the amazing events of an ‘ordinary’ night.

This vulnerable baby who is God in human form has countless siblings; you may now a few of them? You will recognise them because they are a gift that comes unwrapped, with the eyes of need looking straight into your own:

Meet Jenny a single mother, whose boyfriend left here when he found out she was pregnant, this is her first Christmas with her baby boy, and she lives in a one bedroom flat, not much money.

Daniel a University Student who is a Muslim, who can’t understand why the shops are shut on 25th December, what is this Christmas thing all about?

Doris a pensioner who is alone this Christmas.

We all know people who are in need this Christmastide, why not go and surprise them with a touch of God’s love; you might be surprised at the results.

Lord, your gift to us of your self still lies, unwrapped in the forgotten concerns of our world. Give us, today, the joy of rediscovering your presence in the presence of each other. Amen.

Is Christainity the only way to find God?

2009-12-20T07:06:00.001-08:00

I think it would be great to explore how to see God in all faiths and spiritual paths, why does the Christian church find this hard to understand or what to do?

Why are Chrsitian churches so scared of other faithes?

I am who I am because of everyone

2009-12-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

I am my mum; and my sister.
I am my best friend Mike, who I’ve known since school.
I am Kate, who’s still somewhere in Thailand.
I am all the girls I’ve ever kissed; and the girls I will.
I am the teacher that failed me; and the one that spurred me on.
I am my bosses and every one of my friends.
I am a bloke I’ll meet travelling, who’ll teach me the guitar.
I am the places I’ll go to with mates – and the jokes I’ll share with them.
I am the people who put me down; and the ones who pick me up.
I am who I am because of everyone.

So who makes you the person you are?

A Dream can become a reality if we want it enough!

2009-11-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

I have a dream for the church, which is definitely counter cultural but is so foolish it would work.

I dream of a church that is…….

Accepting of people of other faiths that want to learn from them, encounter the other dimensions of our awesome God.

Seeing true value in both old and young

Accepting of both gay men and lesbian women as equal’s loved and made by the same God.

Listening to its community no matter how painful that might be.

Seeing value in the person with a mental illness / depression and walking with them through life.
Prophetic, not scared to speak out.

A safe haven for those on drugs or homeless or just out of prison.

Not hung up on statistics but on serving their missionary God.

Not afraid to be real and does not hide behind a mask of respectability

Finally I dream of a church that does not have all the answers but is totally reliant on God the Alpha and Omega.

That is my dream, is it too foolish? sometimes I think it is, other times I see glimpses of the dream becoming a reality only to be crushed, one day I pray it truly will, if not now when Jesus returns.

Come Lord Jesus come.

What I do dictates who I am?

2009-11-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

Apart from your name, the other question you’re asked when first meeting someone is what is your occupation.

It seems, that what we do for a living defines us, it helps the questioner build a better picture of who and what we are, but does it?

I’d suggest it gives a false image to who we really are, our jobs don’t really define who we are as a person, our values etc, our jobs are mere way of bring in money surely?

In these days of economic crises where we see day after day firms downsizing, going into liquidation, many people are losing their jobs through no fault of their own, by defining people by their occupation, we are saying those without jobs are lesser people, I think it was the Conservative Party who coined the phrase ‘a class-less society’, I want to ask, ‘where has that gone’, I think we are a class society, we see certain occupations as worthless, and only done by those who we see as lesser people in our society, like Road Sweepers, Refuse Collectors, to name just two.

Yet God calls each of us to see one another as equals as he does, with God there is no class, no one is loved more than the next, which is an amazing thought if you think about it.

I’d love to see an end to class, looking down at others and treating those we think are lesser than us as dirt, dehumanising them and making them feel worthless, however I think as ‘the church’ we can’t be a prophetic voice on this until we’ve learnt to do likewise.

What must we do as a church and society to make this a reality and not just a mere pipedream?

What would you like prayer for?

2009-11-21T03:54:00.000-08:00

One way of getting to know the community is to pray for it, so I read in a book a few weeks ago, I totally agree with this, I get to meet many people from all different walks of life, many who would say they don’t believe in God, yet when life get’s tough they pray, I find it a real privilege to sit next to someone, to give them space to talk through their problems or issues , then out of the conversation pray with them.

I believe God does answer our prayers, not always in the way we expect, or maybe hope. I had a friend who had cancer, I prayed for her; sadly she died after a tough battle, now you could say my payers were in vain, God did not answer my prayers, yet I visited my friend the day before she died, she was at total peace in herself and told me she was ready to die, to me she received total healing from God, of course I would have preferred her to have been healed and not died, I can’t give any slick answers to why God answers some prayers and not others, I wish I could, it’s one of the many questions I’ve got for God.

So what would you like prayer for? I’d really like to know, big or small, of course I can’t guarantee how God will answer your prayer in the way you wish, but I do know God will do something because of the prayers offered.

So please email me prayer4petersfield@googlemail.com your prayer request will not be forwarded to anyone else and I will only reply if you ask me.

Dyslexia awareness week

2009-11-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

This week is Dyslexia awareness week, so I thought it was an apt week to talk about ‘being dyslexic’

Having Dyslexia is more frustrating than anything, you know what you want to say, but just can’t get it down in words, it brings you to tears sometimes just not being about to articulate your thoughts in words.It’s also very difficult to read out loud, but as you do this more it does get easier and with the help of some special overlays.

I look at words as if they are Paten's, I might not know how to spell a word, but as long as I’ve seen the word before, I can tell if the Patten is right, most times I get it right.

I find if I’m stressed or tired I get words wrong more, also word shapes can change.I enjoy reading but it takes me ages to read a book, which can be frustrating.

I love writing (Handwriting) but takes me ages to do, if the notes are just for me then I write in my own version of shorthand, if I’m reading out loud and there is a word that I know I will have difficulty with I write it in my shorthand.

There are a number of people who think being dyslexic means your thick; in fact I’ve been told that a number of times, it hurts a great deal.

Something to think about

2009-10-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

A leader with outstretched hands, who chooses a life of downward mobility. It is the image of the praying leader, the vulnerable leader, and the trusting leader. May that image fill your hearts with hope, courage and confidence as you anticipate the next century"

Henri Nouwen 1989

Sermon for Bible Sunday

2009-10-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

Gospel Reading John 5.36-end

May our God who speaks through his word speak afresh in our hearts, minds and lives this day.

I’m sure you would have noticed the wristband bearing the words, “WWJD?” The initials represent the question, “What would Jesus do?” and the wearing of this reminds its owners to seek first the leading and guiding of Christ in the decisions and judgements that they make in the course of their daily lives.

What would Jesus do……?

This true seeking of Christ is precisely what is not happening in the events surrounding today’s Gospel. The passage forms part of Jesus’ response to the Jews who have been seeking to kill him because of his supposed blasphemy in claiming God to be his own Father (5:18).

Here, Jesus reaches the climax of his rebuttal of their accusations: accusing the Jews in turn of failing to accept the evidence of their own scriptures. “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.

Yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (5:39-40).

The accuser of the Jews, says Jesus, is Moses himself (5:45), and, in rejecting Jesus, they also reject Moses on whom they had set their hope.

The Jews claim to believe in the scriptures, but in their denial of Christ and his message they remain blind to the scriptures’ essential heart and purpose: to point to Christ as the fulfilment of God’s loving and redemptive purposes for the world. Jesus pursues his argument with relentless logic: if the Jews so completely miss the true message of Moses, how can they possibly see and believe the truth about Jesus (5:47)?
They seek glory from human beings rather than glory from God; their spiritual blindness is therefore inevitable because they do not have the love of God as the first impulse of their hearts (5:42, 44).

Finding God today…..?

The Jews of Jesus’ time are not alone, the pride and complacency they demonstrate here is an expression of our common human weakness and failure is’nt it?

In today’s Gospel we heard these words read “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life… But I know that you do not have the love of God in you.” (John 5:39, 42)

These are a damning indictment of our general human tendency to hear only what we want to hear and to see only what we want to see. We so often choose to remain blind to that which disturbs or challenges; preferring rather the illusory sense of security drawn from our partial and limited interpretations of scripture, of the Church, and of life. We cling to our comfort zones – whatever form they take – and would prefer the boat not to be rocked.

The innocent question, “What would Jesus do?” has been put down by its critics as promoting a view of our faith in these troubled times that is naive and simplistic.

And yet the naivety of the question is deceptive. It may be asked, with simple integrity and intent, yet it also contains within it the possibility of leading the believer of many years’ standing into profound and unsuspected depths of life and faith.

Our reading of God’s word cannot be abstract from our daily lives,

A teenager lies on the floor in front of the TV. Scattered around are DVD’s, homework books and a packet of sweets. The soap he is half watching shows teens struggling with their parents, their love life’s and ambitions. He has an open bible and is poring over a passage in Matthew – something about serving God and mammon.

He looks from the Bible to the screen and then to his bible reading noted. He scribbles something in the margins of his bible. He prays at the end of his quiet time.

We might think he would be better off trying to pray in a quieter place, and that would probably be true. Here is a young man using the bible, seeking to discern God’s voice speaking through scripture among the many other voices around him.

Texts between two and three thousand years old are being used in a twenty first century room in front of the TV. The expectation is that as God spoke in ancient times God can speak his word through the Scriptures now.

This seeking to hear God’s voice in Scripture as one among the many voices speaking about values, lifestyle and vocations has become completely normal part of spiritually for many Christians both old and young.

Gandhi is believed to have said “You Christians look after a document (the bible) containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisations to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.”

We need as a church to get serious about our bibles, it’s not just a document, it’s God’s living breathing word, Gordon Oliver says this “To be biblical is to live in a continuing, comfortable and argumentative relationship with the Bible” it’s hard going, not be taken lightly, but as Christians it’s something we need to do daily, without the bible we build up a false image of what and who God really is, we can’t ask What would Jesus do in this situation if we don’t have a biblical knowledge of God to inform our thinking.

We need to dig deep into God’s living word to uncover the treasures and revelations it holds for each one of us and as a community of faith, we need to read the word on our own but also in groups, to discuss and debate what God might be saying to our generation.

So some questions to ponder on……..

1. Are you giving time each day to reading God’s word?
I admit sometimes it can be hard, but there are bible reading notes which can help guide you. Also you might like to belong to a home group or get together with other Christians to read and discuss God’s word?

2. How is God talking to you through his word?
I’d like to see us talk more about what God is saying to us as individuals through reading scripture together and praying.

3. Come on let’s get excited about God’s word
Let’s not see God’s word as a chore that has to be done, but something we delight in doing.

Perhaps we as a church could committee ourselves to reading the bible in a year; if you’re interested in doing this please do speak to me about it.

Amen

Mind the Gap

2009-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Where have all our young men gone, that's a cry from many churches today, we have a good kids church, as soon as they reach teenage years and beyond they stop attending church, until maybe they reach 40's - 50's then they may return, if we are lucky.

I want to look at ways to bridge this gap, to keep our teenagers ateending church, support those leaving for University, to encourage and support the 20-30 year old.

To show them allthey can still be cool and have a loving relationship with Christ.

Archbishop John speaks

2009-10-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

Archbishop John (Who I respect greatly) said the following in a recent interview, I myself think these words challenging yet excting to hear.

How would you describe your churchmanship?

“I’m Christian in an Anglican sort of way. Evangelical in preaching and catholic and charismatic in worship and the mysteries of God.”

What are your hopes for Stepney?

“I’ve written a prayer for Stepney. I want to be 'loitering with intent' where human need and God’s love meet. Together we have to strive to know God, preach that life changing repentance, engage people in prayer and offer them God’s love. After all we’re talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God - not some Ugandan bloke who crept out of nowhere.”

How will you handle the homosexuals in your care?

“I want to differentiate between orientation and practice. But sexual relations are for marriage only. My mother always said, “Don’t point your finger because the other three are pointing back at you”. When you find things that are not right you can either walk out, turn a blind eye or try to bring God’s love to that situation. I’m entering a new house, I shall treat people with love, integrity and respect but I shall not be increasing the furniture that is out of keeping with that house.”

Sermon from Sunday 20th September 2009

2009-09-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Preached at St Peter's, Petersfield

Gospel Reading: Mark 9:30-37

Do you sometimes think that you’re just not up to scratch as a Christian?

Perhaps you feel that you don’t properly understand what you’re meant to believe, and you’re afraid or embarrassed to admit it. Maybe you’re also aware of a depressing lack of progress in the Christian life: you fail in the same ways again and again.

In fact, most of us probably feel like this much of the time. We can take heart, however, because in Mark’s Gospel the disciples are slow learners, quarrelsome and self-important, repeatedly making the same mistakes. They are no better than us – but Jesus doesn’t give up on them.

What’s the Gospel saying

Jesus wants to be alone with the disciples to teach them. This is the second of three attempts he makes to explain that ahead of him lies rejection, suffering and death. This is the way Jesus must go, and God will vindicate him by raising him from the dead.

The attempt fails, however, leaving the disciples confused and afraid. Who can blame them? Jesus is the anointed one. They have seen his power to heal and the authority of his words; recently some of them saw God’s glory pouring out of Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. If God is so obviously present and active in him, surely Jesus will triumph over all opposition?

This talk of suffering and death makes no sense and it was Peter who, on an earlier occasion, took Jesus to one side and urged him not to speak so negatively. Peter here is typical of all the disciples, who cannot yet grasp the logic of God being “in Christ, reconciling the world to himself”. This is costly love, requiring the pouring out of divine life in self-sacrifice.

The disciples don’t yet understand that the true greatness of God is revealed in Jesus, the suffering servant. They also have yet to understand how radically this redefines human greatness. How frustrating it must be for Jesus that the disciples bicker self-importantly on the way about which of them is the greatest. Did what he taught them make no impact? How can he get through to them?

Jesus goes for a second attempt to get his disciples to understand his teaching. First he uses words: the paradoxical truth which he is living out – and which the disciples too must grasp – is that to be first you must be last; to be great you must forget greatness and become nothing. Then, to illustrate how to put this teaching into practice, he offers a visual aid: a child. The point about children, in Jesus’ world, was that they were nonentities, lacking status and rights, scarcely showing up on an adult radar screen of what mattered.

So when Jesus takes this child in his arms the disciples are not likely to have thought, “How lovely” but “What on earth is he doing!” Jesus is in fact demonstrating what it might mean to become “last” by embracing those who are “least”.

Have they got it this time? Doubtless they nod contritely, but no, they haven’t got it, because before long the disciples will again be clashing over status, and they will also fail dismally at their next opportunity to welcome children, and so welcome Jesus.

What is the Gospel reading say to us today?
St Augustine uses a nice image to convey the challenge posed to us by today’s Gospel. “Observe a tree, how it first tends downwards, that it may then shoot forth upwards. It fastens its root low in the ground, that it may send forth its top toward heaven.” The trouble is that while the sending down of roots is automatic for trees, it does not come naturally to us human beings to bury our lives in the rich soil of self-forgetful humility. We are hardwired, it seems, to grasp whatever we can for ourselves. How else will we get a life?

But Jesus calls us to another way of life, the life he lived. He constantly reminds us of the gloriously counter-intuitive truth that only by losing our lives will we find them. And if we wonder what this will actually mean and how we can begin to follow this way, we need not worry, because opportunities will come to us today, tomorrow, every day.

Opportunities to welcome and learn more from those we perceive as being “least” in our community, who are these people, well I’d call them the hidden people of our Town

Emily, The Big Issue lady who stand in all weathers at the top of Rams Walk, she smiles at everyone despite their non reaction to hear plea to buy.

Matt, a gay man who just needs to know he is accepted and loved, you don’t have to understand just accept him as a fellow human.

Jack, who is a drug addict who just lives for the next fix, who just needs someone to believe in him, to walk with him, to show him what live could be like.

Sid, the man who cleans our streets, most just pass him by.

Tom, a young man who has mobility and muti learning disabilities, acknowledge his existence, talk to him, listen to him, allow him to be the person God has made.

Joseph, seeking Political Asylum, leaving all that he had, all he loved in a far off land, allow him to tell his story, help him to build a support network.

Above all see Christ’s face shining in all these people, he’s there, if you look.

Jesus shows us opportunities to opt out of the mad struggles for status, the human struggle to accept others different from ourselves, the inability to see Christ in our fellow human. We will of course fail these tests repeatedly. But Jesus does not give up on us thankfully, because he wants us to share his life, totally; and in the end we will.

Sermon Preached on Sunday 23rd July 2009

2009-08-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Base Text: John 6:56-69

The Apprentice

Apart from watching Football on TV the only other program I have to watch is The Apprentice, I know I’m sad but I really do enjoy it, trying to figure out who’s going to get fired this week, also the discussion in the office the following morning about was he right or wrong to fire them, some times the debate gets just as heated as the boardroom on the show.

Lord Alan Sugar is looking for a new apprentice, he uses a series of tests to help him decide who out of the ten is worthy of becoming the next one, it’s not easy going, it’s advertised as ‘The Interview from Hell’ and I think that is a just title for it.

From today’s Gospel reading and through life experiences being a follower of Jesus is not that easy either is it?

God’s Apprentices – five thousand down to Twelve

Our reading from the Gospel comes at a conclusion of a chapter of great intensity and controversy. Jesus has feed five thousand; the crowd want him to be king; he refuses; they follow him to Capernaum; he teaches that he himself is the bread of life who came from heaven, and those who consume his flesh and blood will live for ever.

For a moment let’s put ourselves into the shoes of those listening to Jesus, it’s not hard to imagine that we would join them in thinking that Jesus had gone slightly bonkers, or is that just me?

What is even more Strange is that Jesus did not seek to put his listens at ease and assure them that he was not going completely bonkers, rather he adds to their concern by talking about himself as ‘The Son of God’ ascending from the right hand of the Father.

So it’s not hard to believe that having started this chapter with five thousand followers, Jesus ends it with just twelve – and even they are asked if they are going to stay around? Well wouldn’t you start to doubt, come on be honest?

So is this a failure on Jesus part?

After failing to make Jesus their King, the crowd next find him turning up in Capernaum and he seems fed up with them. “You are looking for me, not because you say signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves”.

Jesus had become a phenomenon, the best act in town, he also offered free food, what more could you ask for! Jesus did not want to be a celebrity showman. The loaves and fishes were timely sustenance for those ate them, but it seems clear that they missed the symbolic significance of what Jesus was trying to show them. Jesus was trying his best to get a message across but they were more interested in filling there bellies.

So Jesus tries a different tact using the theme of eating but speaks of eating his own flesh. This is serious and profound teaching, on the depth of Jesus’ self-sacrifice, but it is also meant to be difficult. It is meant to sort out those who were prepared for the hard graft of discipleship and those who were after a free lunch.

Only twelve, it seems, are in it for the long haul, Peter speaks for them, saying, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” I can imagine the smile on Jesus face; at last they’ve got it after all this time.

These twelve are the kind of disciples Jesus has been looking for; he’s found his first apprentices at last!

These twelve are committed to him personally, not just taking advantage of his extraordinary powers; I wonder tho did Peter really understand Jesus’ teachers better than the others? I don’t think he did, he was prepared from what he new and observed to follow Jesus whatever that meant, is that not also in some ways true of us as well, we can’t really grasp what Jesus is up to but we are ready to be guided by him.

Five Thousand people followed Jesus but only twelve did not desert him, these men became the nucleus of an embryonic church which was growing and challenging as it started to grow, this church is still growing and singing praise two millennia and more latter.

God’s Apprentices in 2009

So how can we apply this message to ourselves and the church?

Firstly, Jesus was confronted with people who wanted to be his disciples but for the wrong reasons, he was prepared to be tough with them and accept that they would leave him. At times we can be confronted with a difficult choice between breaking our cherished values and damaging certain relationships, for example over issues such as

Human Sexuality
Abortion
Euthanaisa

What today’s reading suggests is that damaging relationships is not always wrong – through we do need to be very careful that we are not simply picking an argument with someone we find difficult.

I’m not advocating a church full of People like Us, far from it, we need to speak out, for too long the church has been silent on matters like these, we need to rise our heads above the parapit and be propetic voices in our communities, also at the same time being missional, speaking out might not make us friends, but it’s what Jesus would do I’m sure.

Secondly, we need to ask whether in outreach and Christian nurture the Church presents rigours enough models of Christian living and community. Are we offering a social club with religious rituals or a spiritual life demanding enough to be worth persevering with when things get difficult? This point is a real challenge to me as along with Anne Davidson I will be leading those young people who are offering them to be confirmed in October, please pray for us and them as we begin a journey together.

Lastly, we sometimes reduce Christian Faith to a set of beliefs, yet Peter’s confession reminds us that God wants disciples who are not just committed to an ideal or ideology but to the person of Jesus, the Holy One of God. Do we see our faith as just something we do on a Sunday morning for an hour, or something that has a real impact on our lives every day and in whatever context we find ourselves?

So what do you make of what I’ve said?

Do you have any questions, maybe you disagree?

Please talk to me afterwards or during the week, I’d be intrested in what you think?

What might church look like if we followed this....?

2009-08-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

We believe in three 3 dimensional Christianity. In other words our Christian life has three dimensions to it: The inward (Community); the upward dimension (Worship); and the outward dimension (Mission).

Our congregations have the same aim; to have an encounter with God, as we come together into his presence to praise, pray, listen to what Christ has to say to us today. And to be come more like the people God wants us to be, with the guidance and power of his Holy spirit

The Saints

2009-08-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

So the new football season has started :O)

The mighty Saints are back and stronger than before, we've risen from the ashes of last season and are going to kick arse and get back to the Premiership where we belong.

A good start to the season on Saturday, we played Millwall, some good new signings which is great news. We draw 1-1 which is good seeing as Millwall were in the play off's last season.

Sermon preached on 26th July

2009-08-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

Stories from the work place

I want to tell you two stores from my workplace

Daniel – Had a good job working for a financial institution, everything in his life was good. Then he was made redundant, he’d never questioned his faith before but he was now angry with God and full of Doubt.

Does that story ring any bells with you, or how about this one

Jane, a young lady in her early 20’s went on a Alpha course and was on fire for God she wanted everyone to know God just like her, a year latter her mother died suddenly of cancer, how could a loving God allow that to happen, she’d signed up as a Christian after all, she stopped attending church and binned his bible.

Gospel Reading

Today’s Gospel reading was about a problem that seemed insurmountable as well, which could have led the Disciples to throw their hands in the air and walk away.

We are told that Jesus is followed by a massive crowed to a remote place. The Gospel says that here Jesus tests his disciples Philip by asking him where they can buy bread for all these tired and hungry people. Philip responds to the test in a very human way; he considers the finances and concludes that it is totally impossible as they would need a huge amount of money to feed everyone, more than half a year's salary. Then Andrew chips in, he has found a boy with five barley loves, but states the obvious that the small amount of food would be little of help to feed the crowd.

The disciples look only at their own recourses to deal with the problem that faces them, the problem to them is irresolvable, and wouldn’t we feel the same faced with the same problem? However Jesus shows them that what is impossible for them is possible for God and proceed to feed the entire crowd not just a little mouth full but enough to satisfy their hunger and even more amazing that there were twelve baskets of food left over.

Afterwards, Jesus retreats into the hills and does not return by nightfall as the disciples appear to expect. Being well acquainted with the temperamental nature of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples realise that they can wait no longer for Jesus if they are to cross before the storm breaks, so they set off but the storm comes before they reach land.

Again, they are in an utterly hopeless situation: all alone and believing Jesus to be too far away to help. Indeed, when Jesus does turn up they fail to recognise him and are understandably petrified. They may have recently witnessed him miraculously feed five thousand, but they still seem to struggle to believe that he could be there to help them in their desperate situation. Once Jesus has reassured them it is him, however, and he is on board, another miracle occurs: the boat immediately finds itself ashore!

Application for today

So how’s all this going to help me in the 21st Century living in Sheet?

Well the disciples faced two situations which they were powerless to resolve with their own resources. These impossible situations are used by Jesus to teach the disciples about faith. Through feeding the five thousand and rescuing them form the fierce storm, he encourages them that they can, if they choose, look beyond their own human resources to the divine power of Jesus, Yes, Jesus asks them if they want his help, he does not impose it upon them.

On these occasions, the disciples failed to do this, but let’s be brutally honest would we respond any differently to the problems that we face in our own lives?

Do we exercise our faith in hard times: do we choose to keep on trusting that Jesus will help us even if all seems grim and the situation totally impossible?

Do we forget to cry out to God and seek help?

Perhaps our default response to

trouble is anger

to doubt despondency?

Of course, it is far from easy to keep exercising faith in situations such as those experienced by Dan and Jane in my illustrations. However, it was difficult times that Jesus used to try and inspire faith from his disciples because those times should have forced them to look outside themselves and seek God’s help. It was clearly important to Jesus that his disciples had a growing faith and if the disciples needed to develop their faith so must we.

So may we encourage our faith to grow, putting it into practice each day by choosing to believe that God can and will help us, no matter how difficult our situation: for what is impossible for us, us possible for God!

Like Dan and Jane in my two stories it’s easy to build up a force idea of what being a Christian really is, we make God in our own image and set limits and ideals then when our God does not perform to our liking we give up on God.

Back to church Sunday, is a chance for us to encourage those we have contact with to give church another go, or give it ago for the first time, it maybe that they have felt let down by God or maybe let down by the church, please seek God’s guidance about who you could invite to come, there will be invites available at the end of the service today.

We are now going to watch a short film about back to church Sunday, but before we do I’d just like to finish with that wonder prayer we had from our first reading from Ephesians

I pray that we may have power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breath and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen

This is why I'm a Assistant Curate not just the Curate

2009-07-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

A Curate (s)he is the "assistant curate"; and the Parish Priest is the "curate", that is the one having the "cure of souls").

Church Jargon

2009-06-22T05:13:00.001-07:00

The Magnificate:

An overweight Cat, that could really do with loosing some weight.........

One Solitary Life

2009-06-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

I read this powerful reflection by James A. Francis the other day:

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.

Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned --put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life."

It’s time to take prayer seriously

2009-05-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

A few years ago one of the mobile phone companies ran an ad campaign asking the question ‘who would you have a one to one with?’ I have a one to one with God, its called prayer and its life changing!

In the bible we read ‘The word (Jesus) became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.’ I believe in a God who is not absent from the world but one who is grounded in it. God cares about each one of us beyond our human comprehension; this is why prayer is so important for us to talk to God about how we feel, and for us to listen to God’s words to us.

A while ago I was with a group of Muslim Students, we talked about prayer and what it means, I was amazed by how much their day is built around prayer and ashamed how little time we as Christians devote to it.

I want to set a challenge for us to engage in prayer for our communities, our nation and our world with a new passion, to ask the question of those around us how can we pray for you, to get out in the community and pray for those dark areas where there is trouble, to ask God to inhabit them and bring light into the darkness. More than ever we need to pray for those in government both locally and nationally that they may govern wisely and with integrity.

So it’s over to you, how can we as people of faith be more effective in prayer for the communities God has placed us in?

God is waiting for a one to one with you, so get praying!

Ordination Hymn

2009-05-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

Christ ascended, Holy Spirit,Father over all,by your grace that knows no limitwe have heard your call!You the singer, you the song,to you belong eternal praise. Lord, your servants heed your calling:‘Here am I, send me.’and your Church, the call confirming,prays expectantly.

Refrain

Set apart your chosen vessels,holy each one stands,made of clay, yet each one nestlesin your priestly hands.Refrain Aweful charge to each is given;teach, convict, forgive:aweful love, the breath of heaven,each ordained to live.Refrain Give the servants of the servantsfeet to wash and dry,teach them, wise and busy merchants,where the pearl can lie.

Refrain

‘See the kingdom is upon you’,let it be their theme:let them reach beyond the tissueof our selfish dream.Refrain And to all your holy servantsgive your heavenly grace,that we all may handle serpentsgazing on your face.

Refrain

Ian Jagger (b. 1955)Tune: Guiting Power

prayer

2009-05-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Prayer is about mission and mission is about prayer:

http://www.24-7shorts.com/prayer-as-a-movement

http://www.24-7shorts.com/prayer-as-mission

What would Petersfield be like if we prayed for it, I mean really prayed for it?

How might we go about this?

Twitter and pray, Primate advises

2009-05-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

The leader of Ireland’s Roman Catholics has urged social network users to create ‘a sea of prayer’ by sending text, twitter or email prayers. ‘Make someone the gift of a prayer,’ Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, told worshippers. The Cardinal was speaking at a Mass in honour of Father Patrick Peyton, who promoted prayer by encouraging families to pray through the Rosary. ‘Father Peyton had a gift for using the most up-to-date means of social communication’ and ‘was pioneering in his use of television’, Cardinal Brady explained. ‘I ask young people to [send] their friends an occasional twitter or text to say that you have prayed for them.’

Sources: Daily Telegraph (28/4); Catholic Herald (1/5)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5235473/Leader-of-Irelands-Roman-Catholics-urges-prayer-by-Twitter.html

Cravings

2009-04-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm really not sure why, but I have a real craving for Jam Tarts at the moment.

I guess it's confort food!

What is Ordination

2009-04-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

A prayer from the ordination service in Methodist Church in Singapore will serve to introduce some important insights into the place of the ordained in the ministry of the whole Church:

We are not ordaining you to ministry; that happened at your baptism.

We are not ordaining you to be a caring person; you are already called to that.

We are not ordaining you to serve the Church in committees, activities, organisation; that is already implied in your membership.

We are not ordaining you to become involved in social issues, ecology, race, politics, revolution, for that is laid upon every Christian.

We are ordaining you to something smaller and less spectacular: to read and interpret those sacred stories of our community, so that they speak a word to people today; to remember and practise rituals and rites of meaning that in their poetry address humanity at the level where change operates; to foster in community through word and sacrament that encounter with truth which will set men and women free to minister as the body of Christ.

We are ordaining you to the ministry of the word and sacraments and pastoral care.
God grant you grace not to betray but uphold it, not to deny but affirm it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer

2009-04-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

How can we be a more effective praying community?

What does our prayer life look like?

God’s Glory!

2009-04-17T05:45:00.001-07:00

I don’t know about you but I love some of the adverts that are on the television at the moment, some are more entertaining than the programmes themselves!

I particularly like the Vision Express advert; you know the one, the man walking along in a forest, as he walks he’s leaving a trail of photographs behind him of what he’s seeing, this started me off thinking about how much are eyes see in our lifetime, just take a moment and think about how many wonderful things you’ve seen so far, it’s amazing!

Recently Astronomers discovered the most earth-like planet to date; it’s near the centre of our Milky Way galaxy 20,000 light years away. A light year is the distance light travels in one year – about six trillion miles. So even if the fastest rocket on Earth were to travel to this new planet, at about 20,000mph, it would still take 671 million years to get there!

Again recently on the news a team of scientists found a "lost world" in an Indonesian jungle, home to dozens of new species!

All of this leaves me in Total Awe and Wonder of God’s created world, the vastness of it, looking out of my window I see a group of snowdrops which reminds me how God can create big things but also delicate things like these! Yet he also made you and me, and loves us even more than anything else he created!

Why not stop what you’re doing for a little while and meditate on these things, how God created this world, how he made both big and little things, but also how he made you, the most wonderful thing out of his entire creation, he loves you beyond words even beyond time!

When I need a neighbour where you there?

2009-04-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

When I needed a neighbour where you there, the creed and the colour, the name does not matter where you there?

In today’s technological age we can communicate with anyone around the world. No longer is your neighbour just the person who lives next door to you or across the street but also the person living in Africa for example. What happens in other countries is our business, be it war, famine, asylum issues or anything that effects humanity it is our duty as neighbours to do our best to help.

Sadly however we have the “I’m all right mentality” if it’s not happening in my backyard then I’m really not bothered.

The world is getting smaller as communication and knowledge of the world grows, we truly live in a global village so what are you waiting for let’s get out there and help our neighbours, then we can truly respond and say yes "I was there for my neighbour".

I am who I am because of everyone

2009-04-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

I am my mum; and my sister.

I am my best friend Mike, who I’ve known since school.

I am Kate, who’s still somewhere in Thailand.

I am all the girls I’ve ever kissed; and the girls I will.

I am the teacher that failed me; and the one that spurred me on.

I am my bosses and every one of my friends.

I am a bloke I’ll meet travelling, who’ll teach me the guitar.

I am the places I’ll go to with mates – and the jokes I’ll share with them.

I am the people who put me down; and the ones who pick me up.

I am who I am because of everyone.

The words are taken from a recent advert for a mobile ‘phone company and they are designed to promote this product: to sell to people the idea and experience of being more connected to each other. And through texts, telephone calls, Facebook, Bebo, and messenger services, it is possible to be more ‘in touch’ with people today than ever before.

The advert acknowledges the fact that each of us is the product of the experiences and the culture we live in, our family relationships, friends, teachers, boyfriends, girlfriends; the part of the world in which we live; and the parts of the world that we have connections with, each of these have and will continue to form the very person we are.

Cleaning Cars – a form of slavery?

2009-04-09T01:01:00.000-07:00

As I walk through the car park this morning, like every morning I saw the guy’s hanging around the car park waiting to wash people’s cars for them, I’ve spoken to a few of the them, all of which have very little English.

They charge £5.00 per car, I wonder how much they get paid, is it more then the minimum wage?

How many of us would stand around in the cold, pouring rain to wash other people’s cars?

Are we exploiting those from other less well off countries to do the jobs we don’t or can’t be bothered to do?

I’d like to call for a change to our cultural mindset on these issues, to see people from other cultures as equals to ourselves not subservient to our own wants and needs, we in the west may have more money but are we better people?