Hope in a beleaguered setting

 A this time of year we begin our journey as Christians towards a celebration of the incarnation. As with all beginnings we begin with hope, a hope for better things, an expectation that the world will be better afterwards, a surge towards something that will be tangibly changed in our lives. Isaiah begins our journey with a call to the people of God to 'walk in the light of the Lord' (Is. 2.5). This is an extraordinary call, not only for the people at the time but for Christians in today's world, as it calls us onto a journey that extends far into the future that is filled with the completion of our own desires and hopes for a better life.

Indeed, all the reading from scripture that are set in the common lectionary for the first Sunday in Advent were designed to bring a sense of hope to the people for whom they were written. We can ask for ourselves what is this hope that these writers are trying to express? and perhaps more basically, for ourselves what is hope? In a world that appears to have lost much of its meaning both politically and from a religious/philosophical point of view one wonders what the future holds? This can of course lead us into despair which looking at the calls of social media and media itself, would be the way that many are thinking. The rise of those who see no reason not to exploit either others or the things of the world for selfish gain leads to a rise in this despairing. Yet, at the start of the Christian new year we are given a glimpse of something glorious, something that has meaning for us and should have meaning for our own communities in which we live. Hope is an intangible, a vague glimpse of something to strive for within a world that has dark clouds that stretch from horizon to horizon.

A candle in the distance brings hope to the lost

All hero mythologies are at their most basic  stories of mythic hope in the face of despair and hopelessness. We only have to think of Tolkien, Sanderson, Kay, etc and their heroic trilogies for a sense of this. We can of course go back even further to Arthurian style or even Norse mythology to see the same glimmer of hope being pursued by the hero. In the Christian manner we are all heroes within our journey. We are all drawn by the hope that the Christ spark brings that is on the horizon of our future. Hope is not generated from the past, we cannot and should not dwell in the myths of the past seeking for the solution of our present. It is the call from the coming Christ the future that is visioned by Isaiah and found in our walking in the light of God that creates our journey's purpose.

If we allow our past to be our hope then we have failed to see the coming Christ and we dwell only on the incarnation, preparing for an emptiness that has come and gone. Our celebrations are a celebration of what has been and looking to the hope that is generated by Christ's call into the future. If we leave out the hope of what is to come we then spiral into the debauchery that Paul in writing to the Romans (13.13) decries. Indeed if we look at our collective celebrations at Christmas this is what we presume rather than the celebration that comes with a knowledge of the call into the future. The incarnation becomes for us a signpost into a new future, a signpost that is a call from the future into the past. A call that recalls us into a newness that brings us into Christ's present. It is only from seeing that spark of hope in the far distance that enables our ministry in the present and draws us along our faith journey towards the coming Christic presence.

Do we need to celebrate a king?

 Christ the King has become The Reign of Christ in an attempt to update and become politically correct. We can perhaps agree on the fact that a King is archaic, and perhaps given the state of royalty in the world we should not celebrate anything monarchical. In reality by using The Reign of Christ we are just twisting the words around to imply the same meaning just to make it look non-sexist and pc. This is really a very modern feast day invented by Pope Pious XI in 1925 to celebrate Christ's rule over the environment and the world. Perhaps going out on a limb here by asking the question: do we really need it? Surely every Sunday is such a feast for the Church rather than a specific Sunday of the year. Yes, it concentrates our thoughts on Christ's rule in our hearts or God's dominion over all, more specifically Christ's. Yet, we seem to be losing something of the Trinity by concentrating on Christ. Naming something with archaic terminology does not create a better understanding.

 Is it really a reign or a king that we are celebrating or should be celebrating or something similar? I would suggest that what we should be celebrating is very similar to the reign of Christ as in Basiliea or rule of God. It is not something we should confine to one aspect of the Trinity but rather to the totality of God and indeed we see not Christ as the ruler/king/father but the first person of the Trinity. So what should we celebrate if we are to celebrate differently on this day. Perhaps it is the coming of God's rule here in this place through our actions based on Christ's commandments to us. A rule of God's presence in our communities through the truth, living the way and showing the life that is lived in the presence of Christ and God. It is something that we have been reminding ourselves over the past several weeks. The manner in which we show the presence of our faith in God's love. The whole of creation is ruled by God and we need to conform to that to ensure that our world is a better world. It takes courage and a change in our own behaviours.

It is through Christ that we become who we are meant to be as is suggested in Colossians (1:11-13), Even though in this small passage there is still a warning that it is not an easy route which may be the reason for our consistent failure and need to remind ourselves that Christ is in all. Even in our faith strongholds there is often issues that are not dealt with in a manner befitting the Christ that is. Jeremiah points this out in his calling out of those who serve as leaders and as people who should know better (Jer. 23:1-2). Indeed when in leadership, and that is pointing to all those who profess Christ as they are faith leaders, it is vital that we mirror what we state within our lives. There is no point in saying we follow Christ if our lives do not mirror that by stating the truth, walking the way and living the life of Christ. This is the eschatological moment that is being pointed to within the festival, the moment when we all embrace the life of Christ. We are looking towards a new beginning with the incarnation and our preparations towards that event. Yet, this Sunday cannot be just passed over as another funny festival that is peculiar to the church.

Our road may be straight and narrow but we must walk it fully

In response to the thief on the cross Christ responds with an affirmation of his presence in 'paradise' (Lk. 23.43). The question of course is why? Our response would suggest that the thief recognises his own faults and is forgiven his sins at the last hour. This of course is the 'right' answer but I think that there may be something deeper to be gleaned from the thief's answer. Our shallow response does not take into consideration the thief's actual words just 'Oh, he confessed and was forgiven' but is this all. It is in the way he makes the confession suggesting that his thoughts are not really about himself but about Christ who is innocent. In other words, the thief is displaying what it means to live as Christ even at the end of his own life. What the scriptures tell us to do that is concern for the other rather than immediate selfish desire as displayed by the other thief (Lk. 23:39). I would suggest that it is this, almost forgotten aspect that is of the utmost importance in our own lives and in determining what it means to live as Christ. Our faith demands of us an acknowledgement of the other which is almost above all else and as we move forward it is this aspect that should be foremost in our minds as we celebrate this day.

Deceit barricades life

 No matter at what stage of life we are in there is always something to challenge us. This is the same whether it be as an individual or as a community or even as a country. The challenge is not so much as what we should do, although this is of course important as it determines the eventual outcome, but rather what is our attitude as we approach these challenges. In both the prophet Haggai (2.5) and Thessalonians (2 Thess. 2.15) the recipients are given words of hope in advice with regards attitude towards adversity.

We often loose heart especially when things become extremely difficult for ourselves as a community or as individuals. In this loss we retreat away from others and introvert ourselves in such away that we become sheltered within ourselves. This is not a particularly good thing in these circumstances as we actually cut ourselves off from the assistance that is present. Our loss of heart is reminiscent of the Israelites at the time that Haggai speaks and reminds them that God is always with them and supporting them. Irrespective of the apparent situation we are still supported by God, yet we fear as we do not allow ourselves to rely on God's presence in our lives. The comfort of knowing God's presence during a time of crisis is perhaps the best assurance that we can have as we confront the worst. Even when we feel that we are in the depths of unknowing and question how we are going to proceed. This line from Haggai keeps us mindful of the presence of God.

In failing to acknowledge or even to listen for / to the presence of God and God's comforting word we can see how our attitude can easily change our own perspective of the situation. In turning from God our actions and attitudes prepare us for failure. We deceive ourselves and others deceive us as we begin to believe those who draw the energy from us. The writer to the Thessalonians names this and reminds us that deception is the easy route away from God (2.3). We are chosen at baptism to be part of God's body in Christ and as such we hold fast to what is true giving thanks to God for the grace and love bestowed upon us. To give these up we give up life in God and Christ. This attitude of failure and deception drives us towards death not life and God is a God of life not death. This is perhaps an apt reminder given the  denial of governments regarding issues of justice, the environment and peace in the world as they look for their own benefit, politically, rather than the benefit of their people..

Deceit barricades us from life and seeing God's grace

Christ in Luke's Gospel reminds his listeners of this fact as he debates with the Sadducees (20.27 ff). Once we begin to worry about the trivialities of life then we are looking for our own deaths. Whether we are individuals or a community we only find death in the details that we tend to pick to death. We need to rise above this and despite the negative comments around us we need to strive towards the greater good of our neighbour and not ourselves. God wants us to live being a God of life. We can only live if we lift ourselves, with God's grace, to seek for others to love. What we do may be small compared to what appears to be an insurmountable issue. However, once we see over the barricades that we have created in trying to fight against the trauma we find the glimpses of hope that are offered by the presence of God's grace. The deceit and the attitude of failure are barricades to new life that God offers in the most obscure paths. We need to give of our lives to God in thanks and praise for the wonders he is doing in our lives even in the face of what we believe to be the worst.

All Saints

 Who are our saints?  Each year we celebrate and commemorate the festival of All Saints on the first of November but who are the saints that we are celebrating?  I suspect that most of us will look back through his/her-story and suggest the many heroes of the faith that are recognised by all of us, the St George's and the Mother Theresa's, the recognisably good people.  Those whom we have elevated into a semblance of sainthood because of their good deeds or their martyrdom for their faith.  Each and every country I am sure have these figures that are elevated above the normal.  Yet, all of these have their saint's days, days on which we celebrate their lives, yes sometimes clumsily all con-joined on the one day in some fashion but each individually recognised.

In the early church it was recognised that those who followed in Christ's footsteps where the 'saints' (Phil. 1.1 and elsewhere). So where are all the saints of today, they are the ones who are part of the Body of Christ worshipping this day in love and celebrating the saints not realising that is ourselves that we celebrate.  It is the ones who persevere in their faith journey and hold up the light of Christ to the community in which they live who are being celebrated this day, not the rich and famous but the low and infamous. Luke's gospel in some ways highlights this in his version of the Beatitudes (Lk. 6.20-31), which praises the lowly and brings shame on the mighty.  No matter how we read this passage it perhaps highlights for us the pros and cons of our own attitudes and how we need to go about being the incarnation of the saints down through the ages today.

Let all the saints add their voice of truth and disrupt the comfortable.

This twisted passage that seems to heap damnation on those who have it and bring blessings on those who have nothing is an elementary lesson in comportment for us as modern saints.  It is when we are rich with the world's luxuries that we forget who we are and who we are committed to becoming.  Our happiness becomes but a fleeting joy to be dashed away by the first hint of difference and misunderstanding within our relationships.  It is rather when we are in need of others attention, the love of others, the relationship that slips our grasp that we come close to enjoying God's presence.  This is because we become attentive to those around us, we listen to their story and we form our relationship as they walk beside us and we become part of them. When we are at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs we are comfortable, well fed and enjoy our extra time to indulge our senses and our sensibilities.  In doing so in our age, for that matter any age, we forget that their are others in need and it is only when we are confronted by the necessity to forage for ourselves that we become aware of desperation in others.  We are not well equipped to be thrown out of our well paying jobs and our good lifestyles.  We are unable to form relationships that aid us and fulfil us while struggling to fulfil our needs.  Is this not what we have become as a worshipping community, ones who have been cast out to fend for themselves within a wider world that is fighting for its community?  Those who have struggled to feed themselves and others are those that form community around themselves and help others on their upward journey.

This twisted reversal is best seen perhaps in the last of the 'blessings' / 'curses' (Lk. 6.22-23, 26). These lines remind us that as truth sayers into our communities we will be derided and abused.  Those who are comfortable and well off wish only to hear the soothing things not the disruptive words of truth.  We need only look at the Climate change debate, it is those who sow platitudes who are held up but the truth sayers are the ones who are brow beaten into submission and closed down.  Or even the immigration issue.  We are comfortable when we hear words of comfort but woe betide those who tell the disruptive truth for this we will crucify them.  We asked to bear Christ's cross wit him and we cannot do that if we believe the convenient truths rather than the disruptive call of God.

The surreal reality of God

 God's work is an impossible dream. A dream that sees a place of justice, peace and loving relationship. A dream that we as Christians dream and believe in as we live out our lives worshiping God and moving towards Christ as we attempt to live the Christic life. This is as hyperbolic as the trunk in my eye as I poke around in yours for the minute speck, or as far fetched as seeing a Camel pass through the eye of a needle. Christ proposes just such an impossibility in Luke (18.25), an impossibility that is open to God's grace to transform and change to increase or decrease our response to God's love.

Throughout the scriptures there are these fantastical images portrayed as being what God is doing or what the Kingdom is like. The desert blooms and highways are put in straight and well maintained. What is God trying to tell us as we read these parables, stories, images, etc.? Everyday life seems to be somewhat of a let down if we think of these things being reality. They are dreams that someone else is having and have nothing to do with our own boring lives. If you go onto the net and search out modern surrealism, which of course is associated with Salvador Dali, you can see these dream like images coming to life. I particularly like the work of Eric Johansson and the changing perspectives of Rob Gonsalves, who takes an Escher like view of life that suspends our normal way of seeing.  In a way this is the view of life that the scriptures point us to. We are being asked to suspend our normal thought processes and enter into God's life fully. A life that upsets our traditional way of thinking, a life that we will turn away from if we cannot suspend our outlook on life, just as the young rich man cannot do in the Gospel.

What do we change the camel or the needle?

This is a life that gives up everything only to find that what we have given up returns to us in new, obscure and revitalising ways. This is what it means to answer that small insistent voice that is God. In listening for that voice we are too often overcome by our past and our pre-conceptions that have been built on the past. The young rich man is unable to overcome his past to which he clings. He is disappointed because he was looking for something that he could build on that was based on his past experiences. Christ calls him to let go of these preconceptions, just as God calls us to let go of our modern pre-conceptions as to what our 'parish is', what our 'mission' is, what our 'worship' is and even what our 'church' / 'diocese' / denomination' is. At this time we are being asked to change how we think about the Diocese and is something that we perhaps need to do not only here in NQ but also as a denominational church in Australia. We are asked and are being asked to radically shift our viewpoint from one that is centred on ourselves and how we perceive reality towards one that is centred not only in the other but also in God.

So the question that we should perhaps be asking is: do we change the camel or the needle? It really depends on what we think the camel or the needle is as to what we should change. If we think that the needle's eye represents the small opening that God is calling us from and into then it is most unlikely that we change this. We may not listen or we may not see or we could ignore this call but we cannot change this call on our lives. However, if the camel represents our own lives then it is we who have to change. Only by changing our perspective will be able to pass through the small event that God calls us into and beyond. It is our baggage and our perceptions of who we are and what God calls us to that need to change.  Not only in terms of our involvement in God's work but our involvement in life. 

We need to start seeing things from God's perspective, something that is very different  almost surreal, certainly not from our sheltered understanding of who we should be but God's understanding of who God wants us to be. We step from the desert that we have created into the new life that God has always wanted us to have. In order to do that we need to let go of our past and embrace the call that comes to us from the future, the call that comes from God. To see the green pastures of God's presence and the love with which he upholds us in our self imposed wilderness.

Knowing God means knowing not debating

 God states that the days are coming when we will not have to say "Know the Lord" but that we will have God present in our hearts in such a manner that we do not have to learn to know God but that we will KNOW God (Jer. 31:33-34). Yet, in every way we go about our Christian journey, we are always bearing in mind a need to teach ourselves and our communities to "Know God" and moan when that teaching does not happen. Unfortunately, because we have to a certain degree adopted a modern secular thinking when it comes to anything to do with religious value, we absent ourselves from the knowledge of God. It is a problematic for today as we are schooled not to believe in things that cannot be proved through the scientific method. Even then we argue about what the scientific method's results mean interpreting each and every data point to our advantage.

Stone and cold hearts are transformed by God's presence

In our faith lives many of us live in an in-between world of faith and science with neither really taking hold unless it suits our purposes. Much of the time we pride our selves in our presence at 'church' and make an assumption that we are profoundly faith driven as a result. To a certain extent we need to make an effort to contemplate the parable regarding the pharisee and the tax collector (Lk. 18:9-14). The difference in attitude displayed correlates quite well with the two attitudes in today's society. We either treat our religious life as an extension of secular society (i.e. as a commodity) or secreted away from everyone and not shown.  In the first case we believe that through a pious attitude our demands are to be met and anyone else who does not agree can go elsewhere seeking their own commodity religion. The other way is that we hide our faith and believe ourselves not worthy of God's attention bumbling through life not expecting anything and when grace comes our way we brush it off.

It is the humility of the tax collector, the despised person, that attracts Christ's comments with regards who is deemed worthy and grace filled in the sight of God. This is the person who has taken to heart the requirements that are laid out in scripture (reminding ourselves that for Christ and those writing in what we call the NT this means the Hebraic scriptures). In this case the tax collector has the law written within his heart as God prophesies in Jeremiah (31:33b) and is demonstrated by Christ for us. It is this state of being that we must portray or rather live into as we live our lives in our communities. We are too familiar with the attitude of the pharisee in this day and age with examples from within both the Anglican denomination and the wider faith world.

One of the truisms from the Gospel is how well it encapsulates the everyday life of human beings irrespective of the milieu in which we live or look at. We have this idea, today, that we should get something immediately and if it does not come we give up. However, if we persist with our asking, attempting, etc, we get to the end point. In the first part of Luke's 18th chapter there is a story of persistence ((1-8), which you might find strange in terms of what we are talking about. This story tells us that despite our despair about not getting it right immediately and turning away or being tempted into the situation of the pharisee should we persist in the manner of Christ we will eventually turn things about. We know that often times in life it is our persistence that pays off in the long term. We find that doing those things that are closer to God comes at a cost in today's world, a cost in negativity and despair, yet should we persist in being as Christ to the community it will in the end pay off, not only for us but also for the community in which we live as we begin to change attitudes and behaviours.  This is the gospel story being played out in our lives to the fulfilment of God's dreams.

Wearing masks rather than giving thanks

  It is often the case nowadays that the words 'please' and 'thank you' are forgotten in our normal standard conversations. If we then take that into the world of faith I believe that they went out the window a long time ago. Our prayers and our supplications often sound like demands of God rather than a seeking of God's grace to come into our lives and when that grace settles upon us we are too often either upset or astounded to ever think of giving thanks and praise. The leper had a deeper significance in the psyche of the Rabbinic interpretations than the straightforward interpretation we place on it today. Perhaps, when we look at the ten lepers in the story from Luke (17:11-19) we can look at it from the point of view of relationships and their worth within the eyes of faith.

Due to how we have consistently seen leprosy purely as the disease we find it difficult to think of it as an indication or analogy of dis-ease within our lives. A dis-ease that places us outside of the community through our lack or mis-understanding of the situation in which we find ourselves. Too often we feel ashamed of who we are as members of a faith group (2 Tim 1:8) and in not making ourselves known through thought, word and deed we suffer dis-ease in the world around us. We are masks that are worn so that people will not feel uncomfortable around us and accept us into their company. We are relying on our own wiles and ingenuity rather than allowing the grace of God to carry us in any situation that we can conceivably be placed into. We are dis-eased from our knowledge of God and Christ's presence in our lives to show a shadow of our selves to others. In doing so we begin to fall away from God and Christ as we take on the persona of the secular society in which we live and the glories of God fade from our lives.

Do you wear a mask or proclaim God's love?

We can only grow comfortable in our faith personas if we actually wear them continually and not the mask that we habit each day to face secular society. We seem to have lost the impetus that was there in the early part of the journey and have now come to a long lonely struggle as if we are going or are in exile. Like the Israelites in exile we mourn as no one comes to the faith being led astray from our purpose by the prophesies of the modern age (Jer. 29:8). We are perhaps not as vigorous in our defence or as prayerful as perhaps we should be not seeking and not knocking (Jer. 29:12-14). In our PC climate we seem to be unable to express our emotions and our absolute faith in claiming retribution against a culture that denies our very beliefs and faith. Yet, we too are to blame as we have sunk into a sort of semi-comatose posture when it comes to our faith journey, without joy and thanks for the endeavours that God has given to us however hard they appear to be. 

The thing that commands our attention at the end of the day is the outsider, the Samaritan leper, who turns back and is reconciled by giving thanks to God and Christ for his acceptance back into society. Yes, the leprosy is cleansed but it is much more than that it is an easing back into the embrace of God and the re-start of the lapsed faith journey. We give thanks for what God has done for us when we realise how badly we have fallen on the road by relying upon our own self indulgences and our own thoughts. We need to judge our own faith progress and not place obstacles in the way of others. Christ only requires that we fulfil the law and give thanks to God for his grace to come to us and cure us of our ills. We need to like the psalmist claim our joy to God (Ps 66:1) that despite being led astray by society God has led us into a new place. In thinking more broadly as a diocese, perhaps, we need to give thanks for the opportunity for repentance and metanoia that the receivership gives. In this way we too can bring joy into the lives of those seeking a new spiritual home. Let us give thanks to God for the grace that enables our lives to be filled with the truth of God's love for us and those we form community with. We change society violently with an aggressive love that tells only the truth and not the lies that society would have us believe. Only then can we begin to thank God for the resurgence in our faith that forms around a community that is filled with spiritual prayers and supplications living a life that is formed in Christ and not in our conception of the moral dimensions of human life.