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.

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.

Commitment to grow the seed of love

 Among those things which are of value for us as a community is our commitment and how our giving  / faith enables our structures to grow. This is all very well and good but for these things to happen we ourselves also need to grow. In Luke, Christ uses the mustard seed as an example of small to big (Lk 17.5-7). This is a perpetual journey in our lives it is not something that happens overnight. Often we can sow seeds into the ground and nothing appears to happen for months on end, it is only when conditions are right for the seed to grow that we begin to see signs of growth and plenitude.

God has planted a seed into each and every heart as God has fashioned us in his image. In our yearning for God we seek that presence which symbolises God in our lives. We yearn for God in the midst of worship and we attend that worship seeking for the smallest hint of God's presence. In seeking for that hint, the small voice that calls to us with an unending call, we are distracted by the larger needs of our selves. In the distraction, we seek for our own comfort demanding the things that we expect rather than the things that God calls us to. Moving into the distraction we turn our worship into a religious club that caters for our needs; by providing the servants who deliver what we want or expect rather than serving the other that calls to us. This behaviour leads to our seeing worship and the gathering of the community as an option, one of many, that happens at a set time. It is alright we do not have to come into community to rejoice and worship God. Our individuality is paramount and so we become isolated from the rich source of life that feeds the seed. This is tantamount to placing a seed on the shelf with the hope that it is going to grow without nutrition and the water of life.

Poor is our faith if it has not been nurtured or watered.

If we are to become fruitful and allow that seed that God planted to grow we need to ensure that it is fed. It is all well and good feeding the seed with good nutrition but if it is not worked in then it is not going to do anything. We may as well leave a lump of dry manure over the dry seed on the windowsill and still expect it to produce. For us to work the soil and the richness that feeds us means that we actually have to commit ourselves to a lifetime of work. Once we begin to commit ourselves to the labour that we are called into we begin to feed the seed that God has planted; we begin to work what we have been given. The commitment though has to be full, it cannot be half-hearted. We cannot make plans to fulfil God's promise by sitting back and belonging to a club which we attend because it gives us pleasure. We actually need to make sacrifices in our way of life to become more like Christ and reach out to the other. Our sacrifices need to be real, not a pittance out of the corner of our pockets but something that manifests in God's presence in the world.

Once we have committed ourselves and sacrificed our lives to becoming living sacrifices to God do we start to work the soil and bring the nutrition that the seed requires to grow. Dry soil though, however hard it is worked will not produce any crop, let alone one that will deliver 100 fold. So we need to water that soil with the water of our lives spilled into the rich soil of God's work in us. In giving our lives into and for the work that God has called us to we begin to bring the water that is life to the seed of hope that has been nurtured in the dry soil of our abandoned lives. Our lives filled with happiness, sadness, wrecked by anger and frustration; Our lives which we keep to ourselves and mourn over in the stillness of the night. It is here in our griefs, joys, frustrations, poverty, illness and health that the water of life for the seed of hope flows. Yet, we hold it in, we encamp around it, preventing this precious resource from ever leaving us, only to find that it stagnates and queers our lives rather than the plentitudinal harvest which comes when we squander it allowing it to flow into others desperate lives.

We fail to commit ourselves whole heartedly like living sacrifices as we pray at the end of our worship. We fail to commit ourselves to the path that God calls us along, we fail to give as the widow gave. We see ourselves as having cowardly spirits rather than the spirit that inspires power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1.7) and thus fail to give of ourselves to the other.  In deed I can but Lament along with Jeremiah (1.1):

How deserted lies the parish, once thronging with people! 

Once great within the Diocese, now become a widow; 

once queen among the deaneries now put to forced labour.

(Place any words you want in the verse to convey the lament for your own place)

The vivid revelatory material of apocalypse

 The readings for Michael and all angels are filled with apocalyptic imagery of one sort or another that settles on the figure of the 'Son of Man'. We associate this interpretation of the Hebrew in terms of Christ and the human figure of Jesus. Yet, the reality of the wording is a reference to humanity formed in the image of God as Adam. We live with our expectations of humanity without acknowledging God's image within us and thus our ability to be as Christ to those around us.

We can see that within our own culture and the pervasive philosophy of the western world, our basic worldview is based on the dichotomy of what we believe to be life. Black and white, truth and falsehood, heroes and villains. Yet, life is not as black and white as such dichotomous thinking would have us understand. It is filled rather with the unusual such as quarks and strings, synchronicity and quantum leaps whilst still maintaining that the spiritual life is non-existent and angels such as Michael and others are figments of fertile imagination. For our era, dependant as it is on the rational focus, this may well seem to be correct and an explanation that angelic beings as primitive rationales for something that could be logically explained. How? Well perhaps like Mexican and South American indigenous peoples it may be the results of drug induced visions. Such visions have a high impact in the communities in which they are practised but this does not help our everyday understanding or how it might assist us in working out God's plan for us.

St Michael is not as cherubic as modernity conceives angels

Apocalyptic literature in the bible does somewhat reflect the mescaline induced visions and our interpretation of apocalypse does not really do justice to the meaning of the word. Both Daniel and Revelation are classed as apocalyptic writing that is revelatory writing, of deep existential and metaphysical truths of the day. These truths are often conveyed in language that is not conducive to rational interpretation but requires our right brain's intuitive and imaginary powers to be utilised. This is not something we are used to and so palm it of as being 'weird'. For our logical selves the weirdness is in the language that is both poetic and disturbing but describes fundamental political truths of the time. The question is does such language convey anything for us in our current circumstances, especially when we start using concepts such as angels, beings with fluffy wings and cherubic smiles? However, Michael is not seen as cherubic but heroic, not nice and cuddly but fierce and violent. So where to from here?

We can see similar political shenanigans within our own world. The same controversies, the same greed the same violence, the same ambitions, etc that are reflective of the human condition throughout our history. What Michael and the angels have for us is the same message that of God's continual work towards the salvation of those formed in his own image, those of Adam or humanity. Those who are able to display the reality of God into the world and become his messengers, angels, to those who are suffering. The work that our imaginative selves can undertake in a world of pragmatic depression to bring about communities of hope and care rather than despair. A day of angelology and fantasia that offers the hopes of God in our lives if we can allow ourselves to conceive of the impossibility underlying the rational reality we are told is the only reality.

Acting in faith rather than as a secular person

 In Luke's gospel the parable of the shrewd manager (Lk 16:1-9) seems to be a bit strange among the many strangenesses of the biblical story. Here is, what amounts to a corrupt manager, being commended for his corruptness by the owner and supposedly by Christ. In the passage following Christ then states quite plainly that one cannot serve two masters at the same time, in this case God and wealth (Lk. 16:13). So, what is going on here? Perhaps we need to expand our horizons somewhat when we look at this text, in much the same manner in which the rabbinical tradition expands the readings of the Hebrew scriptures. In this case with a bit of imagination and in depth look at everyone's actual motivations. We can perhaps wonder where this parable comes in terms of Christ's understanding of those very same scriptures as this is where he is, one has to presume, deriving his teachings from (the Hebraic law).

In somewhat of a reverse analogy this parable can be seen as about letting go in terms of our thoughts and how we think about God and secular life. Too often we are caught up in the dilemma of when to let go of what we think and when to take on new thoughts about God and our lives of faith. We have a propensity towards two different ways of thinking when it comes to our faith journey. The first is to be adamant on our own knowledge of God and place that as the defining agenda for a faith lived life. This can be seen in the attitudes of those who would determine how we "must" read the bible, irrespective of denomination or church, this sort of attitude is found. There is here a failure to release our thinking or rather our hold on what we have been taught and consider what God wants us to learn. Perhaps in the greater scheme of things we can think of this as being the attitude of the greater Australian Anglican church. Thus, they resort to the thinking that has driven Anglicansism and its governance structures over the historic period in confronting circumstances. The second is the understanding that the religious life or rather the faith life is irrelevant and has no hold on us in the modern saeculum. This inevitably leads to a denial of those things which lead us into the spiritual dimensions of our lives as these are no longer relevant for modern society. These failures are taken up in the Hebrew scriptures when they discuss the relevance of the sabbath in terms of the land and those who have become bound through debt slavery in Leviticus which could be the source of Christ's unusual line of thought in this Lukan parable.

A fresh start means a letting go of our perspective

If we take a look at the parable it gives us a marvellous insight into the stewards thinking in terms of his retirement. We do not have to think about the probable corrupt practices going on but rather on the understanding in the stewards mind as to what comes after. In some respects the man is saying to himself I must look to God to look after me in my old age because I am not going to be able to continue in my current post. In doing so I will also assist my letting go, by opening possibilities in my later life, so that I am cared for within the community. I am not going to hang on to my previous understandings, I am willing to let go and open myself to new possibilities. A vacating or freeing of what was once bound up in a continuation of the way forward. This kenosis is what is being praised and  this, in a manner of speaking, also speaks to the later passage with regards not serving two masters. This happens if we cling to what we think or know regarding our faith without giving up our aspirations in terms of our secular age. We are torn between the two and most likely will turn away from the path of faith, as so many have done, choosing to go with the lure of wealth or power whilst paying lip service to God's law. The law of love that suggests to us that we must care for those less able than ourselves both financially and spiritually. The steward frees himself, if you will, and allows God to take a hand in his forward journey.

In believing ourselves to be following God's commandments and hanging on to what we interpret as God speaking to us from the scriptures we open ourselves up to hypocrisy and condemnation. As we aggrandise our lives whilst scheming in a political and sinful manner to such an extent that we neglect love of neighbour and eventually on the slippery slope we fail to love God with all our hearts. This is due to our failure to let go of our own thinking and manner to allow God into the space of freedom and release that comes with beginning anew. It is only when we die that we can gain new life, it is only when we release ourselves from the bondage of our own thoughts that we attain the peace that comes with God's love.

Small sins overlooked

  We really do not understand the concept of sin per se in today's world. We bandy the word about but without any true meaning behind it and I also suppose with little understanding of what it means to sin or be a sinner. This means that we use sin as a cast off word rather than a word with reality in its meaning. There are a number of understandings of what sin is, all of which are very dependent on the culture and the religious belief people have been brought up in. At the end of the day for most sin is a moral wrong doing either against God or against some other authority that is sublime. This then bends us towards understanding that sin is something that we have a choice over rather than something that is thrust upon us from outside ourselves. This in turn tells us of our own need to make decisions that are in alignment with the moral code of God which is seen in the love of God and the love of neighbour. If we understand this then we can understand where in our lives sin exists but also that redemption lies with Christ.

In understanding our failures we begin to rejoice over our redemption even when those failures were small as shown in the parables at the start of Luke chapter 15 (1-10). This rejoicing is emphasised and taken further in the parable of the prodigal son later in the chapter. The main point for us is that we cannot overlook what appears at first glance to be small and inconsequential. We cast aspersions of sin  when we speak about major incidents like murder and theft often overlooking our own minor misdemeanours that we do not go looking for. The parables in Luke 15 other than the prodigal are all about minor things, a single sheep and a single coin. How well do we know our own proclivities that we can point to those things that we believe to be so minor as to stay lost? Perhaps what I am trying to point out is that we neglect and overlook many things that we believe to be minor but are actual causes of our continual sin. Reminding us that our sin is that which is not in keeping with the law of love. I think that if we were to deeply delve into our own actions over say the last week we could easily come up with circumstances where we were not loving towards God or our neighbour.

What is the sin and who the sinner?

The saying is that the little things trip you up and for the most part it is the same in our faith journey. It is those things that we overlook that trip us up. Our attitudes, our reliance on our own thinking, our reliance on tradition, etc. all of these things eventually highlight our own hypocrisies and our lack of love for those around us. We become protective of our 'territory' and would rather our neighbours leave us alone so that we do not have to share what we perceive to be our wisdom. In doing so we neglect the basics of our faith journey and act out of ignorance (1 Tim. 1:13b) rather than out of faith and knowledge. Our ignorance appears to be related to our own self understanding of what it means to live a life of faith. More often than not we impose on others the meaning and relevance of scripture that we are happy with even if it moves away from the bedrock of love. We cannot see the irregularity and disjunction between our own perceptions and those that highlight God's love. Irrespective of where we sit on the spectrum from ultra conservative to ultra liberal.

Perhaps the words from Jeremiah are more apt than we would think "For my people are foolish, they do not know me" (Jer. 4:22). People do not want to understand the scriptures or to be led in the way of love rather they prefer what they are told what scripture says even if the words are words against love. Whilst it is sometimes difficult for people to gather around the scriptures in the fashion of the old style bible study it is even more difficult to come to terms with scriptural passages if there is not real means of debate or reading at a local level. The common complaints are often along the lines of "I do not agree with x, y and z's comments so won't continue to go" or else "it is to high faluting and I am immediately lost, so what is the point". Perhaps, also there seems to be little enthusiasm to delve into aspects of scripture in an academic way and in any case the minister tells us all about it in the Sunday sermon. I understand that because often in the past it has come down to a liking or a disliking of a person leading a group that has turned people away or else it has been "shoved" down the throat in an unacceptable manner. This is where our centrality in Christ comes into play and if we forget this we unintentionally sin automatically turning from God who is justly angered by our neglect.

Solid foundations take commitment

 Foundational experiences ensure that we have something to build on for the remainder of our lives. If we undertake the building of foundations we need to ensure that we are preparing the way for our building in an accurate and stable manner. If we begin something and then stop because we are ill prepared for the consequences of our actions then we create our own challenges (Lk. 14.28-29). In the same manner we begin our faith journey at baptism or when we begin our intentional faith journey and need to ensure that the foundations and the journey ahead are understood or else we will find the challenge too much. This is often to be seen that when we begin something and run out of 'puff' halfway through unable to continue the process.

In Jeremiah, the Lord takes Jeremiah to the potter to give him this understanding (Jer. 18.1-11). Like the potter, we begin moulding ourselves into what we perceive as being that which is required. Yet, if we fail to be guided in our understanding of the process by others, and by God, then we produce goods that are damaged. It is often as a result of our underestimating the costs of what we are about to or are doing. For us as Christians we are asked to take up the cross and as we do so we commit ourselves to that undertaking. However, unless our underpinning and foundations are strong we will ultimately fail and turn away from Christ and from God. It is not an easy thing to do but one that can be done easily when we have placed the foundations down. So often, when we begin something we ultimately rush and suddenly find that we are failing or the foundations being laid are not the foundations that God is seeking but those that others have laid. Often it is because we are building on things that have been done before without realising that they ultimately failed as a result of sloppy beginnings or others desires.

First the foundations but even then we may give up and fail to form the vessel of God

We are slaves to what we put down as a our foundation. Just as Paul lays the foundation for Onesimus to live free in Christ so to we must lay our foundations in Christ. We can not be lazy in how we lay our own foundations. Unfortunately, we tend to leave our foundations when we are quite young and never return to complete the building becoming like the man who stopped and walked away (Lk. 14.28-29). It is only when we find that in later years that we have missed out on something that we return to the forgotten projects. In doing so though we have to go through the pain of picking up our crosses the ones that have been gathering dust and weight over the years. We have to re-educate ourselves in terms of the building practices that we once had, we have to start once more.

Once again like the potter we have to throw the clay on the wheel and begin to reform our lives in Christ. Once again we have to have the perseverance to finish what we have started. Once again we find ourselves tempted to move away from the start of something great and move towards our own deaths. The disappointments we seem to gather around us weigh us down and the project of building becomes a drag and a chore that is dull. Yet, Christ is there for us even in the despair of our realisation that we seem not to progress. It is in these times that we must re-evaluate our progress with our foundations. Return to our base in scripture and in reason and in our tradition to find the way forward to build a lasting structure within our lives that harbours Christ's Spirit and allows us to grow into what Christ and God plans for us. Make the mix to sloppy and the jar will not form, make it to stiff and the jar will not form. The consistency of our effort and the material we use must be filled with Christ's love so that we can form the vessel that Christ wants.

The trap of self worth

 In life we often can achieve the our goals through hard work and believe that we have arrived when we our considered by others to have a certain amount of knowledge. However, sometimes and quite often in a faith setting, our knowledge becomes a hindrance and is often not conducive to a happy and sustainable community. In life we are often honored for our knowledge and we allow this honour to become part of our expectations in all of life's settings not just in the situation in which our knowledge is recognised. In Luke, Christ warns against this type of behaviour using the illustration of a banquet (Lk. 14.7-14).

We can see this happening in all walks of life as people position themselves into places so that they can achieve power, authority and often at the end of the day notoriety. It is difficult for us not to promote ourselves within an economy that values those who are deemed to be 'expert'. (I am always reminded of the old definition of an expert which goes something like this. X = an unknown quantity, Spurt = water under pressure, a drip = an unknown quantity of water, hence expert = a drip under pressure). Of course in any discourse that involves the subject matter that is the provenance of the 'expert' it is the purpose of the person to have their knowledge acknowledged and thus their view predominate. In academic discourse this is part of the rough and tumble of academia and is carried out through conferences and forums that the various 'experts' attend.  In everyday life such behaviour tends to lead to cliques, clubs and politics. We can see where that leads to as there is a tendency for those groups to use hierarchical power, the 'expert' at the top, as a means to stop conversation and deny the voice of the other.

Do we consider ourselves as being 'experts' in relationships?

In the faith setting this sort of self proclamation becomes an issue as there is a tendency to once again form us vs them cliques. This can be clearly seen in an over exaggerated form in the issues in Northern Ireland regarding Protestant and Catholic. In this over exaggerated case the situation devolved into violence in much the same way that the extreme fundamentalist does in any religious setting. In the parochial setting the result may not be as vicious, in terms of physical violence, but is just as bad in terms of relational violence. We often do not appreciate the violence that is generated as quite often the group as a whole ignores the issue and bows down to a laissez faire attitude that gives permission for the situation to continue without resolution. Once a 'power base' has been established by the group or individual then this is used to exploit the situation and impose the view of the group/individual on the others within the community.

In many parishes there are Catering groups or Opportunity Shops that are valued as they often bring in a large proportion of the income for the Parish. These groups tend to attract those who have a tendency for this self promotional style of behaviour. The 'expert' is often the person who has been around in the group as a leader for an extended period of time and when attempts are made to curtail or align the group to the new direction a community is taking then umbrage, chaos and upset occurs. Thus, breaking up the communal relationships that have ignored the growing situation as being normal and coming to understand that it is the community that has been 'bullied' into conformance as a result of their reliance on one group or another. This is accepted and normal behaviour in many groups within modern society.  Yet, Christ offers us another and alternate way of behaviour that does not rely on our self proclamation of expertise and need for power / authority to lord it over others in however small a manner and in however 'irreplaceable' we believe it to be.

We are each of us called into ministry by God at our baptism. It is God who calls us into the place where we may have some 'expertise' but it is also God who guides and directs us in that ministry. God is the host who will elevate us into a more prominent position in the light of our peers but it is also God who may decide not to promote us despite what we believe or think of ourselves. Our self recognition as an 'expert' and therefore the right to be heard or even for our viewpoint to be the prevailing viewpoint, has to be one that is counter intuitive to our desires. Our behaviours should reflect a viewpoint that believes "Despite my belief of my own self worth, there are others who may be of more consequence than me."  Only when we realise that our own opinions of ourselves do not matter within the community will we begin to recognise that it is our relationships of mutual understanding and love that are of more importance.

It is pertinent for us, especially for those who think that they know more than others or think because they have been doing something forever, to stop and listen to others in the community.  This can not be a single event in the life of a community but an ongoing understanding of ourselves as a community. In doing so we begin to heal the rifts that our behaviours have caused and begin to listen to God's direction of our ministry and not our own self imposed authority.  But remember as soon as we start to think "I was right all along." and vindicate  a position we have held in our own situations, we fall into the same trap. We are not called to elevate ourselves for the honour and glory which is fleeting but we are to await God's blessing and call for a more lasting satisfaction and blessing on the community as a whole.

Answering God's call

 In the last few weeks there has been a number of passages from the Hebrew Testament that show the beginning of ministry through the eyes of the prophets. In the latest reading we see Jeremiah's call by God (Jer. 1.4-10). We know that such a call has an effect on the lives of those called but also we understand from the material in the scriptures that such a call however powerful, is not without its obstacles. During Jeremiah's time as a prophet he was more likely to be prophesying from prison or in close captivity than not. A total surrendering of himself to God and yet, even he, at the end refuses to listen to God and ends his days in exile. What is it about listening and following God that leads us to obstruct or turn from God's voice?

The writer to the Hebrew's suggests that it is our propensity to turn towards those illicit things that the human heart fails to turn from, that is the cause of our unyielding obstruction of God's call for justice (Heb. 12.15-17). We seek to better ourselves within the confines of the community in which we serve. We do this by suggesting to ourselves that what we do is for the greater good and for the purposes of God. There are rules and regulations that we need to follow or else we are not good members of the group. The leaders are learned and are able to interpret what God wants and what is best for all. There is a certain tangibility about the desires and plans that are placed before us so that we are forever chasing after the eternal fires of Sinai (Heb. 12.18). We are unable to place ourselves outside this tangible sphere to seek after those things which are above are daily desires and wants. If we have a plan or a way to move that involves a strict rule then we are more likely to follow that then we are God's mutable Spirit. Laws and rules are easy to define and are even easier to comply with and so make the society in which we live 'better'. Yes, such things are required but the question eventually arises "who interprets the law and for whose benefit?".

Who are the judges of today? Are they the old of yesterday?

In the reading from Luke, Christ offers an example of going beyond the stated laws so that there is a definite improvement to the community (Lk. 13.10-17). God's purpose is to bring healing and integration to a community not division, even if such healing and integration brings about the appearance of negativity. Such negativity is often as a result of our own minimalist understanding of interpretation. We are narrow in how we see things as this is our coping mechanism. God on the other hand is insistent on a more open view such that it encompasses all not just a few. More often than not we interpret our responsibilities to the narrowest extent, rather than broadening our point of view. We can point to a number of our deepest theological debates to see this. How does our human sexuality in all of its rainbow perspectives debilitate our ability to worship and surrender to God? The only thing is how our perverseness may harm the other rather than bring them into life and God's presence. How does our gender disable our ability to minister in God's name, such that we have to bow to an other in obeisance rather than cooperate in love? This is perhaps a fear of loss of power or authority rather than a community revealing God's love.

We need to remind ourselves that we follow a call by God not by other humans. The Hebrew's writer once again writes with insight when they say that what is of God is unshakeable whilst human desires will wander with their eyes so that we once again put obstacles in the way of God's reign (Heb. 12.28). In looking at how we go about undertaking God's will and answering the call upon our lives we actually need to throw out the rule book that our forefathers have created to follow. Just as the Israelites needed to be reminded time and time again, it is not how we interpret God's law but how God wants us to behave and act. Our responsibility is to God not to the structures that we and the generations that have gone before have interpreted as being God's way. God's action is encompassing not confining, is for all not for some, is life giving not death dealing, is free not expensive. Our views and our attitudes need to see beyond blame and power to find balance and forgiveness. We need to come from a totally different perspective rather than from the one that has been generationally produced as the law.

Disruption for justice

 Last week I spoke about the disruptive influence of God in terms of Derrida's deconstruction. This week we see that disruption occurring in a more specific way despite this being a Gospel of love. Luke's Gospel has an enormous disruptive feel in the current reading as Christ tells us he does not come to bring peace but disruption of existing relationships (Lk. 12.49-).  A disruption that tears the  relationships of families and communities; an unexpected dissonance from a God of love, peace and harmony.

Yet, when we engage with the lament from God over his vineyard in Isaiah (5.1-7) we should begin to understand where this disruption occurs in our lives. That is with the presumption that we are truly living the Christian way. All that God is seeking is justice but finds instead bloodshed (Isaiah 5.7). Justice is a concept that is so elusive for the human that the judiciary and philosophers struggle to pin it down as it escapes in the blink of an eye.  It comes as a disruptive moment in our lives as we seek to do justice.  The historical list of those who have managed this elusive concept are pillars of faith and have journeyed with this concept throughout their lives. Some are outlined in the letter to the Hebrews and finalised  by basically saying the list goes on forever (Heb 11.32).  If we consider our own heroes of the faith or standouts within the faith journey of the modern era we can think of Bishop Trevor Huddlestone, The Arch. more commonly known as Desmond Tutu, Sister Theresa and Rev. Michael Lapsley all who have struggled with this elusive concept as they have journeyed in faith.

Only when we start to understand their passion for a loving God and the elusive pursuit of justice can we begin to understand the disruption, in this word, that this should cause for ourselves.  Yet, we ponder and struggle to overcome our own pet hurts that blind us to the greater call on our lives. We confine ourselves to the irritation of a misleading line in a hymn rather than the actuality of injustice in Palestine.  We concentrate on the tangibility of a border forbidding the undesirables from coming and restricting their access while neglecting our responsibilities as well as the injustices occurring in our name.  It is the tangibility of a border or a hymn that calls us rather than the intangible concept of justice calling from the borders of our sovereignty.  Only when we can overcome our own wants and wishes so as to focus on the greater will we begin to work the will of God's call on us.

Desperation in the face of injustice

The claim on us as we make our way on the journey of faith is not in the past but in the present.  In seeking justice we will disrupt our families and our communities as we stir up the complacency of governments and communities.  The Anglican and faith community live by what is known as Lex orandi, lex credendi, or what we say is what we believe.  If this is the case than it is the call for justice that must be lived out by our daily lives.  This is a greater call than a single focus on Jew, Muslim or sexuality.  Our call is to live acknowledging all as children of God and ignoring the difference that they bring into our lives.  Justice calls to all of us, irrespective of creed, culture or sexuality.  It inspires us to live lives of acceptance that do not dwell on images of the past but build images of the future with hope.  Justice continually calls from the margins of our society not from those living in affluence.  The pursuit of justice calls us into the fray of the dispossessed, the camps and those struggling to survive.  It does not call us to close our hearts and our borders; it does not call us to close our eyes or think only of the past.

If we are to live as faith filled Christians, however small we deem ourselves, we will be at the forefront of disruption as we open the hearts of those closed by comfort and complacency.  Mother Theresa was not a showman or a tele evangelist but a person of large faith and heart who saw injustice and worked towards justice.  For all his flamboyance Archbishop Tutu worked at the coalface of injustice to bring the injustices of apartheid into the light of God's love, not for fame but to honour the call and pursuit of justice that God calls all of faith to. In our comfort and our own lives lived within a society that is consumed by pettiness we are called into the disruptive tear that those who suffer from injustice create as justice calls.  We have seen the blood that flows as a result of injustice in the lives of the abused, are we ready to answer with the salve of love and respond to the call of justice in the world.

L'avenir - God's unexpected future

 In John Caputo's book, 'What would Jesus Deconstruct?', the author outlines Derrida's "least bad" definition of deconstruction one indeed that Caputo himself likes (pg 54). In a nutshell Derrida states that there is a predictable future (a 'future present') and one that is over the horizon of expectancy ('the absolute future') the event that we cannot participate that disrupts our lives; that removes the certainty of our human constructed structures.  In other words, 'There is a future which is predictable...But there is a future to come (l'avenir) which refers to someone who comes whose arrival is totally unexpected.' (Derrida quoted in 'Preaching after God' by Phil Snider, pg. 135). In a very real sense this is what we should be preparing for 'the totally unexpected' when we await Christ.  Christ highlights our preparedness in the Gospel (Lk. 12.32-33) and this need to expect the unexpected (Lk. 12.35-40).

We can prepare for most things today.  We have certain expectancies that in life we can plan for, the future that is made present, as it comes to us in the certainty of our careers, our businesses, our home life and our social calendar.  Not least of all in our taxes and our expenditure that for individuals are things that we can guarantee let alone expect. These are the platforms on which we build our daily lives relying on our past experience and our expectations for the future.  We prepare our purses and our schedules in such a fashion that those things that we know are going to be undertaken do not become mountains or impossible tasks, less we submerge ourselves in misery and despair.  In any form of leadership this is the task that is set before us so that we can lead people into a new or better place or at least maintain a certain level of service / comfort that meets the expectations of those we lead.  However, this also points us towards a status quo, a non movement forward, a non growth of our potential and what could be.  It is when we are driven out of our expectations into new places and new things that we become alive once more, alive to the possibilities inherent in the call to be a follower of Christ, to be a Christian.

The Unexpected Guest - by Heather Lara

In (not)-preparing for the unexpected, because as soon as we prepare it becomes the expected, we need to be flexible and listen for that call that leads us into the new and challenging circumstances that confront us as we take on the risk of faith.  This is not an enviable position to be in as leaders and yet if we answer God's call on our lives this is exactly where we will find ourselves as we seek to bring God's people into conversation with that call.  It is a question of allowing our experiences to be present to us and yet not govern us or the moves that we make.  Too often we allow our past to dictate what the future will bring.  Yes, we have an experience that needs to inform our actions but not dictate them.  In confronting our prejudices and our hurts and our dislikes we often find that it is our past that is dictating how we experience the present and the future.  In not allowing the unexpected to draw us into a new sequence of relationships we die to the possibilities that the Christic event opens in our lives.

We are practical people and our focus is on how to rather than on waiting and responding to the event that disrupts our lives.  In leading the family of God into newness of life we ourselves must be prepared to let go of our own preconceptions of the future.  We need to allow ourselves to be prepared in unpreparedness.  We do not know when the event will occur just as we do not know when the thief will come in the night.  Yet we prepare for the thief without making definite plans as to when and where.  So we prepare for the coming of the event of God's grace in our lives with the understanding that it may never come or it may come this second.  We have to be sufficiently ready to grow and go where God's Spirit may call us without enormous preparations before the time.  If we are called into a new experience of God's abiding presence so we need to be ready to respond with an affirmative that does not deny that experience by locking it down.  Rather we need to be opened up to effectively respond in love to that call.

It is often hard to accept that what we strive for may not be what God wishes for our lives or our institutions.  We may all be in agreement about where we think God is calling us but then out of nowhere God comes calling and disrupts our planning as Christ appears to us.  It is only in our (un)preparedness and flexibility to accept the Christic event that we move forward in our faith journey.  We need to listen faithfully for God's ever present Spirit as we formulate our life's goals and the goals of our communities.  The call is always there it is when we do not listen and move on our own that God's presence is suddenly there changing what we thought to what we ought to do.  Let us always be (un)prepared to accept God's insistent call on our lives.

Wealth beyond our dreams

 We are presented on a daily basis with everything that we ever want if we could pay for it. What do we do? We tend to buy what we can when we can or even when we can't and go into debt so that we can have what we want. Be it a car or a house or a phone or a boat or... Then we moan about the debt or about the burden of paying it back, we very rarely think about the future at such times. If we do think about our future then we ensure that we have plenty of financial worth to live of in our retirement years. We give no thought about others in the community and even if we have wealth we tend to ensure that what goes out has some form of benefit to us in the end, whether through recognition or eventual investment payback. The reality becomes all about us rather than anything else and our thinking whether it is in spending or saving is for ourselves much like the rich landowner who saves everything for a rainy day (Lk 12:16-20).

Is this what God wants of us or is this what we have always done and continue to do despite being called into a different mode of living? Paul, seems to indicate that this is what we always do prior to our accepting God's presence through Christ into our lives (Col. 3:6-10). These are the things that are meant to have been stripped from us in our acceptance of the way of Christ. Yet, in our own hubris we have not neglected these but in some ways we have increased their hold on us. We are conditioned by the society we live in not by our enduring faith. For us, as Christians it should be the other way around, we should be conditioned by our enduring faith rather than by the society around us. Yet, over multiple generations the communities that we live in have taken up the understanding that we hoard our wealth rather than use it for the greater good. There have been very few societies that have looked at the greater good of the individuals rather than at the selfish needs of the individuals. In doing so we have engendered this greedy outlook so that justice and peace are purely symbols of something that is unattainable and a constant future state.

We lavish our wealth on ourselves and neglect God's presence in our lives. Yet, God is the one person who persists in loving us irrespective of our neglect of God. God's lament of faithlessness is seen in Hosea  (11:1-9) and how the persistence of love for God's people continues on despite our movement away. God's love is a total outpouring into the world and in favour of those he loves (the whole of humanity who are made in God's image). We are asked to mirror that love in Christ and in action within our own circumstances even if it means beggaring ourselves for the sake of God. In doing so we are being faithful to God and knowing that God will be faithful to us and not allow ourselves to be forsaken. This is a difficult road to walk as we are putting ourselves into the hands of the unknown rather than our own wants and wishes and the comfort of what we have earned. Even when we are on the cusp of wealth and peace within our own lives we must still look beyond to those who are unable to afford what we have. It is pointless for us to hoard our worldly goods when others are being impoverished.

We want it all for ourselves and not for the other

In the Gospel parable, there is nothing about giving to those beyond or outside the community. It is based within a rural community much the same as that which Ruth and Naomi entered. It means that there were rich and poor living cheek by jowl, just as we have in this community and in our surrounding communities. Tragedy strikes at the heart of our comfortable life but is more prominent when it is away from us. We think we are doing our best by contributing towards the other that is apart from us whilst neglecting those that are closest to us. In the story and the context of the time the wealthy person was encouraged and expected to contribute to the welfare of the community. The stored grain was not going to go anywhere except for distribution on his death. There was no point in hoarding it. There is no point in our own hoarding whether it be toilet rolls or our finances or our love, we cannot spend it in the end. We are thus asked to put our love and our lives and our wealth to care for those in the community beyond our own circle.