Bringing hope to the world

  As we come out from the season of Christmas into the New Year what are we expecting and what do we wish for in terms of our Christian and faith journey? and are these the same?  This is perhaps a question that we do not often put to ourselves and indeed we automatically assume that they are the same.  The initiation of our faith and Christian journey is in baptism and on this last day of the Christmas season we celebrate the baptism of Christ by John. In doing so, we could perhaps see this as indicating the complete connection between the two events.  Yet, our baptism is the baptism in Christ who has died whereas Christ's baptism is the baptism of John who was re-initiating the covenant of God in the hearts of those who came to him.  Indeed, John sought Christ's baptism (Matt 3.14).  Christ's own journey into God's presence begins here with John's baptism, as it is Christ who sees and Christ who hears (Matt. 3.16-17), a journey that drives him into the desert places.  A drive outwards not inwards, not simply into the desert and the solitude of the self but also eventually into society.  Towards God in community not simply and only inwards towards God in solitude.

Let our faith journeys be lights in the world.

The community of the people of God are given a sign of hope in the coming of God's servant (Is. 42. 1-7).  A hope that extends not just to Israel as God's chosen people, but to 'all nations' (Is. 42.1b).  This is a journey that is extended away from the personal into the community of the world no matter where that belief in God is found.  This is perhaps the one thing that we tend to forget in our exuberance of bringing the Good News to the world.  We focus on baptising everyone rather than bringing the Good News.  Jesus asks for baptism, the child's parents ask for baptism of the child, the confirmation candidate asks for their confirmation.  We are commissioned by God to go out into the world.  The world came to Christ in the Magi and Christ went into the world to give and proclaim the good news.  Our focus is and always should be the demonstration and proclamation in all we do as to what the good news is rather than on proclaiming our own spiritual journey.  Christ's spiritual journey drives him out away from the crowds but his proclamation of the good news and God's Kingdom drives him in towards community.

We are reminded of this outward pull by Peter in Acts as he to comes to the realisation that God is not confined to the rules of man but to the compassion of God for all people (Acts 10.34).  Our faith journey is our discovery of God within ourselves while our Christian journey drives us into community accepting all as part of God.  It is in this realisation that we find the hope of God's kingdom.  In proclaiming our faith we need to involve ourselves with all people not just with those who are 'Christian'.  We misunderstand our role in God's Kingdom when we look just to bring our personal views into fruition.  It is God who enables those who want Baptism to come to God and ask as part of their spiritual journey.  As Christians we are called to set the example that will enable those not baptised to seek baptism not play favourites.  If we do not set that example how can we expect people to come to God and choose that commitment?  If we are unable to do God's works of justice, righteousness and peace in the community how do we expect people to see God?  In another place in scripture the disciples say that they should stop someone, who is not a part of them, who is doing good works but Christ says if they are not against us they are with us. Can we deny those who are not baptised their right to do what God has asked for in doing God's work? Perhaps they are closer to God then we are on our own journey.  We are asked to grow both as Christians and within our personal spiritual journey towards God, this may not be quite the same thing.  Let us bring hope not build divisions; cultivate love and not destroy in hatred.  Christ went into the world and so also should we.

The gift of choice - an Epiphany

I am often stunned by the fact that as Anglicans we often stick to tradition above everything else in our lives. If we think about many parishes throughout the world I would suggest that many of them if not all of them are obstreperous in holding on to what they see as tradition. If it is not the pew that grandma sat in its the pulpit that was created in the 18th century that is so monstrous that it is a carved relic of note that we cling to and make the priest ascend. Indeed, it has been said that you do something for two weeks it becomes a tradition that cannot be undone in the Anglican church. In our attention on miniscule horrors of antiquity we ignore the world around us and the various interests that would bring us down slaughtering our beliefs. We also ignore the presence of God in our midst and the directions of God to go another way (Matt. 2:12).

The gifts that the wise men bring to the Christ Child remind us that our mortality is tied to power, faith and mortality itself. In other words we can grow through power and authority, faith and our sense of wonder but we are curtailed by our own mortality. No matter how much power we have it will come to an end with our deaths, which means that in the end it is not of much use to ourselves but for a brief period. Most of that period is one that is of struggle to either gain the power we want or to retain it once we have it. Gold is also very symbolic of our desires that are deep and abiding. Desires that lead us away from God or are put  in place of the deep desire that God has for us as we cannot comprehend nor accept the burning love that is God and like the Israelites before we must turn away to obtain that which is easier to obtain.

The lures of the world around us that prevent us from seeing God

Of course a burning desire for God can also change how we perceive our reality as the second gift aptly illustrates. The incense of desire that flows towards what we imagine is God but is solely our imagination rather than the true interaction with the God with us. It is our desire for something more than that which is intangible. We chase after our dreams found in the various alternative 'spiritual' paths that are on offer in the world today. The pursuit of which simply burns out and curtails our ability to commune deeply and personally within our lives with God as shown by the developing mystery of Christ in his life. Both of these paths eventually lead to death not only our mortal deaths but our spiritual deaths as well. Indeed death is something we continue to shy away from within our own lives as we euphemistically refer to it as "passing on" or "lost" or other words that divorce us from the reality of death that leads into newness of life that Christ again shows on the cross.  

Are these then the choices that we have? or as God directs the wisemen into another way is there such a way for us that confounds our desires and needs whilst placing us before God? A way that incorporates all our desires and dreams without overwhelming and scaring us away. The way has been proclaimed to those that were not the first inheritors of God's presence and who turned away from the deep desires of God at Sinai (Eph 3:5-6). In doing so the desires of God are no longer things to be wary of and afraid of but rather to embrace above and beyond the world's gifts. They are not things that we have to search for but are given to us if we were but to open our hearts to God's presence and listen with all our being to God's guidance and direction. In doing so the cravings that come for power and authority through the medium of gold have no call upon us as God provides what we need. In placing God's presence firmly in our hearts we no longer have to go searching for the myriad dreams that our egos provide for us as the transcendence of God is ever present. We no longer fear but rather embrace death as part and parcel of life as Christ through his life changed how we perceive death.

Only when we acknowledge these, does the alternate path become visible as we strive to follow where Christ leads. This is a change of view, a change of thinking and a change of our relationship to God the incarnate one the other who is us. We who live in darkness (Is. 60:2)  can then discern the great light that changes us and our lives into a light for the community beckoning us into new beginnings and new lives.

Atrocity in the face of love

 Atrocities always stir people to take some form of action. Often nowadays the action takes the form of protest by the people against whatever the causation of the atrocity. This is a politically bound action as it tries to, in many cases, act with power to overturn or coerce governmental action in some form. Indeed it attempts to act in a similar way to potesta as defined by Agamben rather than with legitimate auctoritas. It is at the end of the day a political move and not necessarily positive in the situation. So what do we do as Christians when such things occur?

The Christian voice over a number of years has been very active when it comes to our response to those that are political and climate refugees. In protest, we often highlight the inequities that governments of various colours have acted in the light of such dispossessed people without really changing much. We continue to hear of ongoing atrocities with the subsequent plight of the resultant refugees. Often we react, as a whole, in sympathy but with the proviso that they (the refugees) must not impact on ourselves, our communities or our way of life. Life in the Middle East amongst the semitic people has often been one of changing populations that results in social upheaval and discrimination. The story of displacement we see in the Gospel today is familiar as is the resultant atrocity (Matt 2.13-18) as it is seen worldwide in the modern world (not necessarily in the same order). The Gospel story does not give us much of a guideline in these circumstances other than to flee to another country until the issue goes away.

Is this what we accept as love?

On the one hand we see the atrocity of fear, anxiety and rivalry on our lives and on the other we see that same fear transformed into new life in a new setting. The existence of displaced peoples in other countries is not by any imagination a new thing. Yet, for the most part such displacement was accepted and in many semitic cultures people sheltered those who were in such an unfortunate position as part of their religious duty and path in faith. It is only with the rise of thoughts around individualism and primacy that we begin to see the rise of anti_isms. We also see this with the rise of boundaries drawn on pieces of paper to designate belonging. In much the same manner as fear regarding political and power stabilities rose in Herod, which led to the atrocity, fear, with the same roots in our psyche, rises in our communities, which is encouraged by those who are the most insecure, such that it eventually leads to violence.

This is the choice we have in the immediate presence of God incarnate. Do we give in to the fears that are promoted by society and our own inner feelings with regards to the 'other' or do we do the unexpected and face those fears by accepting that which challenges us and disturbs society? Perhaps, by facing that which challenges will allow us to see that it is not the other we fear but rather the acceptance of something that is different which ultimately brings the greatest of fears, change. God's love is filled with change because God challenges our perceptions and speaks to us with regards our static and rigid views. Christ came amongst us challenging the expected and traditional view. Here in this ministry unit and this Diocese we need to start challenging those perceptions of what is ours and what is God's. In that challenge we will begin to see new ways and paths that take us along narrow tracks towards the loving God we worship.

Word made flesh

 There is a choice to made every year as to what lessons are to be heard on Christmas day. Do we follow the Lukan narrative of shepherds and inns or do we immerse ourselves in thinking hard about what the incarnation means to us through that obscure and difficult reading from John. Not many will elect John, simply because a) they do not want to get it 'wrong' and b) it is too much work to tread the boards of obscure theological thinking at this time of year. However, given the events of the past few weeks perhaps it is best for us to entertain a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of incarnation in our lives rather than the ephemeral look at inns and shepherds.

The beginning of John's gospel links back to the start of the Hebrew texts in Genesis drawing our attention to both a new beginning and also to God's power in creation. Whilst it is not apparent as such in the first passage that power, we quickly come to understand, is the power of love. New beginnings are for us spaces of tension and anxiety which often leads to rejection and division. This is clearly enunciated by John when he writes that Christ is not accepted within the community to which he comes and the world which was created in love by God. In Genesis the beginning is out of chaos and unformed void from which the cooperative power of God entices a new and powerful beginning. The formation of newness in John results in chaos and rejection from that which was formed by God.

Out of chaos God enticed form with love

Our present epoch of consumerism and selfishness continues to create the formless chaos and division that that brings. It is almost as if we are unwinding the creation story by our presence and unending needs based understanding of the world. This is the same world or rather an ever burgeoning intensification of the world into which Christ becomes incarnate. Up to the point of Christ's birth God has given an indication of humanity's consistent dwelling on the self through the wisdom of the prophets and the earlier writings of history and poetry. Now in Christ's incarnation we are able to perceive a model of God's intentions in creation yet we are still unable to move away from the chaos of our own intentions. The human emotions that bespell our everyday lives through greed, power and fame. Believing ourselves as being beyond authority and condemnation we continue to recreate our own downfall. This can clearly be seen in recent public humiliation of figures who thought they were beyond it all.

This perhaps is the important point of our celebration today. In God's incarnation amongst the people we begin to be enticed away from the chaos of our own making. Just as in Genesis God entices through love the formation of creation, God now entices us through Christ into the way that leads us towards the meaning of love that is centred in creation. It is only when we begin to cooperate within our societies that we begin to create the meaning of love in the world. Once we realise this cooperative effort we begin to be enticed away from our chaotic behaviours towards a real change in our lives and those of our communities. Communities that suffer as a result of disassociation, envy, pride, angst, depression and the harbouring of ill will towards others among many other negative feelings have the opportunity to see a new way that leads to new life following the death of our old lives.

Love is work not convenience

 It is clear with the events over the past week, from the invasion of Woolworths in Melbourne and the subsequent violence on the beach to the extreme violence at Bondi that our society both in Australia and worldwide has no conception of love. The theme for this week in our final Sunday prior to Christmas is precisely that 'love' and in the turmoil of life we are unable to express the concept in truth.

It is often too little too late when it comes to love.

For the majority of those at the Melbourne invasion, predominantly teenagers and perhaps some twenty year olds, the concept of love is likely to be the lovey dovey portrayal of romantic love (eros) found in modern cinematic explorations and the story lines promoted by Mills & Boon. They have no conception of anything else as that is all they are fed by parents and society. The concept of a love (agape) that cares for those around them is something that cannot be conceived of. Thus they show contempt for everybody and anything so long as they obtain immediate gratification through violence or theft. For those that come from faith backgrounds the enormous misunderstanding of their own scriptures has to lead us to mourn the loss of profundity and understanding that is common in many faiths around the globe.

The Christian understanding is based on love which goes beyond the misconceptions generated by the romanticism of what is promoted as love. Christian's, and all faiths of the book, promote the concept of what is proclaimed as agape. This is a love that transcends the boundaries that humanity puts in place to segregate, categorise and hate. We deal with the political rather than the reality of love as Christ commands of us in the incarnation that we will celebrate in days. Everything we do and say is often motivated by our own political agendas and fear rather than seeing the situation through the eyes of love. If the country of Israel does something morally against their own religious beliefs for which they are justly criticised, such criticism becomes labelled as being politically antisemitic because a) we have no understanding of our language and b) we follow the politics of separation in order to raise tension and destroy love.

At the end of this week of extreme violence may we begin to reflect on our own words and our own actions when we consider our communities. Christians need to grapple with the meaning of agape rather than dwelling on eros. Any person in a relationship that has managed to stay together over 20 years and longer knows the struggle associated with love. It takes time and effort on the part of two people to make this work, so how much more does it take for us as a community to bring such love into the world. In the current epoch it appears that that effort and that time is too much for us. Society has said that everything is convenient and you do not have to put in effort. If it does not work out move on to someone or something else to find your happiness.

In Matthew's gospel this dilemma between convenience and work is presented to Joseph (Matt 1.16 ff). The easy convenient route that he was about to take or the harder route that shows love. Joseph understood what God was asking and was willing to take the risk. In our lives as individuals and as a corporate entity are we willing to take the risk that God places before us. The one of convenience which allows the world around us to crumble under violence and enmity or the road of work that opens the heart to love and understanding building community in an age where the other is shunned. 

Joy expressed in struggle

 Once again we have but a singular reference in Isaiah to the concept of joy (35:2) on a Sunday that is meant to speak about joy. For most of us joy is as ephemeral as all of the other things we have talked about such as hope and peace. In today's world there appears to very little joy as people no longer seem to have that concept of "joie de vivre" but rather there is an excellence at morbidity and 'downness' even when we talk of positive achievements. It takes a lot out of a person when we try to be over abundant with our lives when the world around us seems to be heavy and strained. Even when we have extended family around us we feel strained as if through a colander. (Not every one, but I would say the majority, at this time of year put on a face).This is particularly so when relationships are strained within family and community. So, why celebrate something that there appears to be a lack of?

More and more we appear to be sinking into a morass of mediocrity that disallows the extreme feelings that come with joy and sadness and all those other emotions that we bandy about without really realising them to the fullest extent. We have lowered our expectations much as Christ chides the crowds when he asks them what they went out into the wilderness to see (Matt. 11:7-9). We do not live with great expectations and therefore we are surprised and, in some ways, negative to the exuberance of life. Perhaps the issue is that those expressing such exuberance are often only acting out so that they may achieve fame, fortune etc all for themselves. Genuine joy is a difficult concept to accept when we are so used to being in the depressed state that the world has conceived for us. Even John the Baptist, according to Matthew, is uncertain as to whether to celebrate with joy as he questions Christ's presence (Matt. 11:3). If John questions it is no wonder that in this current age we struggle so much with the possibility of joy in our world. Indeed we often turn towards the past to reflect on what was rather than to the future to see what is to come.

It is in rising to a new day that we find the future joy is here

We often yearn for a future that is filled with the joys of the past and the friendships that have been created. What we never realise is that those joys that we are sunk into remain in the past and so we never have the ability to engage with the present to create new joys out of what we perceive to be endless sorrows. It is only when we recognise that by dwelling in the past and attempting to re-create that past in the present we are creating our own melancholy and inability to move into the future. In this recognition we begin our return to new life and the joy of Christ in the world. By retreating to the past and attempting to recreate it in the present we are playing a political game that is only for our benefit, our control of the world around us, our drug of choice that pushes our own agendas without thinking of the greater whole or of Christ's life, death and resurrection. In the incarnation as it comes towards us we are reminded that we are mortal for God has created us and has become created with us so that we can live into the future. A future that as we know involves dying and in dying we let go of the past. In living into the future we recognise the elements of re-birth and newness of life as we co-create the joy of God's love. It is only when we recognise the elements of death within our own lives that we can start to let go and let God's love in recreating joy, happiness and life. It is through this healing power of understanding and anamnesis as we re-live the path of Christ that we come to the joy of new life. This letting go and re-membering needs to occur within all aspects of our life. We become hypocrites when we allow our past activities and politics to guide our present activities without first going through death to create new paths and new joys.

If we do this correctly, we mourn each death and move on into new life, this applies to parish life and life in the Diocese as much as to our lives in community. This is the upside down world of God's coming kingdom, it is we who have to mourn not others, it is we who have to suffer the death of ourselves not others, it is we who have to forgive ourselves not others. Christ gives us a clue to what healing in God's kingdom means as he proclaims those deeds that have been undertaken. The poor and the outcast are given hope and joy. The vicissitudes of life are not imposed by others but by by our own wants and needs our own rejection of the joy that is around us if we open our hearts to the other. God's kingdom comes in the irruption of newness within the fecundity of our lives as we understand ourselves and so come open our eyes to joy and love in relationships we build into the future.

Faith in a world fueled by doubt

 In the second week of Advent we light the candle that is called the Bethlehem candle or the candle of faith. A light to all the world that is lit to glorify God and show that in the midst of darkness we can hold the flame that is faith to draw others to ourselves. Faith a tenuous yet sometimes strong connection that allows us to open our hearts to the community around and show others what it means to be a Christian. Paul in writing to the Romans details out at least one of the characteristics that we need to focus on with regards our Christian journey at this time. Paul writes "In a word, accept one another as Christ accepted us" (Rom 15.7).

 This above all else takes an act of faith for us as much as the idea of God or Christ or any other aspect of our life together that involves our unseen spiritual relations. This is not a tangible although it does lead to something that is tangible within the world. We need an abundance of faith to undertake this simple act of acceptance for we act between ourselves as if we are each wolves to the others sheep. There is a barrier that we automatically erect when we have or form a community. The barrier is one of fear rather than faith. We fear the other, we are unable to accept the difference between them and us. In our fear we erect a barrier that must be broken down before we can come together as a community. Before the barrier we have erected comes down we must first build trust before opening ourselves up in acceptance. It is unfortunately a natural occurrence as we feel threatened and need the comfort of knowing we will be protected by those who are like us. This is the start of tribalism or community separation. We often operate in this way within the Church irrespective of denomination. Unfortunately, the governance structure of the Anglican church throughout the world often lends itself to this insular thinking.

A thin string of faith allows us to build rather then separate

God's way is so different, it is not about building barriers but about understanding that we are all given life by God's presence. In Isaiah we read that God's  will is for those that are opposites to come together in peace and harmony (Is 11.6). In the natural world the predator and the prey are extremely unlikely to do what is foretold. Being part of the natural world is this our fate not being able to come together in peace and harmony. Yet, God has given us a hope in this passage a hope that tells us that we can overcome the enmity that is generated by opposites. For us to live as a community of Christ means that we have to overcome this enmity that naturally occurs between two unknowns. We have to take a leap in our understanding of the other; a leap that allows us to accept each other in the faith of Christ knowing that we are each children of God. Only when we can come to accept in faith that the other is ourselves seeking out friendship and love despite our difference will we become one in Christ. This is even more so with our own governance structures as a Diocese. We can no longer pretend that each ministry unit is autonomous and does not need each other.

In the end the it is not because we live by the rules of religion that will allow us to live in harmony (Matt 3.9). We make the rules of religion to conform to what we want not what is required of us by God. Christ asks us to form our relationship in love not by rules that govern us. We need to have an acceptance of what our faith tells us so that we can overcome the barriers that we, ourselves, have put in place. Accepting our faith is accepting Christ's call for us to live in peace and acceptance of each other, so that we can each serve as Christ served. Our service is a step in faith to those around us accepting them as they are not as we suppose them to be. It matters not whether we are part of  our own select group that believes this or that but rather that we have sufficient faith to accept the other for who they are and live in harmony that each knows Christ in their lives. Yes, we have to act that out and not act what we think out and that is perhaps the harder part.