The Martyr's call

 Where are all the martyrs gone? It seems that they do not appear on our immediate horizon but rather languish in the backwaters of Wikipedia awaiting us to discover them. Martyrs are those that are witnesses to Christ and to the way of Christ. If that is the case are we not all martyrs to the faith or we should be in what we proclaim and do. The issue is that along with the majority we perceive martyrs as those who have died or rather been gruesomely put to death by those who are deemed to be not of the faith. In other words we think solely of St Agnes and those like her whose names we now revere and use as placeholders or examples for modern believers. However, in the original meaning of the word, which we Christians have redefined, martyrs were and are witnesses to their cause.

Young witness to Christ, St Agnes, not a witness to death

We do not live in an era of violence within the borders of Australia, however, we still see the tendency towards radical violence when people oppose the views of the other. If we are to try and emulate St Agnes and any of the others before and after we need not emulate their deaths but rather their witness to the gospel and the way of Christ. What their lives and deaths highlight for us is that opposition to God's word and way often lead to responses that are extreme as a result of speaking the truth. It is perhaps that in this day and age because we 'look up' to the martyrs of the faith and perceive only the horrifics of their deaths we find it difficult to understand our own witness.  In our linking of death with the fate of the martyr, in the true sense of witness, we do not wish to participate in our call to be witnesses to Christ.

The call to be witness and our understanding of the fate of the witness, through the veneration of people such as St Agnes, means that we have to "consider our call" as Paul puts it to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:26). Our aversion to the fate of the witness means that we also forget the banality of the witness' life who were not powerful or wise but normal with a true faith and witness to the truth. Let us understand the life of Agnes before her death and subsequent declaration as it were into martyrdom. She was a normal teenager in Rome who underwent persecution because of her status as a Christian. Just as in today's world people are persecuted for who or what they are rather than attempting to understand them. Sexual abuse is often part of the martyr's story especially if the martyr is a woman and this is the same for Agnes. Perhaps simply because in a patriarchal society the abuse and defilement of women are seen as ways of showing strength. The normal cycle occurs with abuse followed by a number of attempts at killing in this case through fire and eventually with a sword thrust. If we were to think of the symbology here it is perhaps male supremacy through the sword.

What does this all mean for us? Perhaps that in our accepted normality we are also outcasts in the world. Our buried treasures (Matt 13:44-ff) are just that unseen and unknown to the world. In bringing them into the light of the world we open ourselves up to abuse of not only ourselves as being different but our families and communities. Today's morality in terms of our actions towards others who are different or display a greater understanding than ourselves is much the same as in Roman times. We just need to consider the actions of sections of society who believe themselves better than others whether as a result of race, creed or social circumstance. What Christ and the martyrs tell us is that our deeper truths need to be lived out in practice. We need to really give careful consideration to what we have been called to especially in the knowledge that the truth always hurts those who do not want to hear it. This naturally leads the other towards rejection of those who follow the way of truth. Often, unfortunately, the rejection of the truth leads to violence. Violence, which often ends up being horrific and personal. In not wanting to confront that violence we come once more to our rejection of the message and the life of the witness. We bury our own treasures we do not dig them out. We reject the pearls of great worth so to avoid the pains that come with speaking and living the truth. This is the inspiration of the martyrs, not the violence, but the normality of their lives lived in the truth.

What or where are we looking?

 John's Gospel has Christ asking the two disciples of John the Baptist 'What are you looking for?' with what appears to be a non-sequitur response 'Where are you staying?' (Jn 1.38). A question answered with a question with no real answer from the disciples.  Yet the question remains and is something for us to consider today and within the context of our own society.  I have moved multiple times and am intrigued by the disciples' answer. As I consider their response I remind myself that while I am sometimes removed from the flow of society around me I am still connected to the Church and the concerns of the Body of Christ. In being disrupted in our place of living we can perhaps bring to mind this question and focus on it in the context of where we consider our place of living to be.

The question posed is: what are you looking for? In life we are constantly looking for something to fulfil our needs.  If we were to answer this question then our answers would probably revolve around our needs and those perhaps of our families.  The you is personal it creeps into the spaces  of our need and highlights them to our mind.  We think of our housing, our work circumstances, our children, our social standing, etc.  We would consider these as our needs; we would think that perhaps these are the things we are looking for to fulfil our lives in the modern world.  What about the question in terms of our religiosity, our faith, our denomination / church / community in which we worship? Here we conceive of our mission in the world, our ministry to each other and those who are less fortunate.  We look at those less fortunate, the orphan, the widow, the exile, the immigrant and stranger; we designate an other who is not of us to whom we are called to bring our faith, our God, our ways of doing things to achieve fulfilment and the end of our desire.  Is this then what we seek, the perfect way to bring the Gospel to all people throughout the earth in fulfilment of God's commandment?  Is this the answer to Christ's question?

The incipient disciples answer strangely with an alternate question; where are you staying?  This appears to be a frivolous question in response to Christ. Let us come and see where your living, that's what we are looking for.  Just to see where this person is living, a cave, a hovel, a palace.  No great desires for food or fancy goods.  No desires for peace in the world or a community of love and acceptance.  This is really odd to seek a place of abode. Yet, if we look at it purposely and with deeper understanding is this not the absolute answer to Christ's question to us.  If we are truly looking for something within our own faith and religious journey is it not just this to find Christ's abode.  We are not looking for a trivial house or palace or campsite in the wilderness we are seeking where Christ is living.  We are looking for signs of Christ's presence in ourselves and in those around us as a community.  It is the presence of God in Christ that is our daily task to find and worship; to become a part of and not to become excluded from.

We are not looking for an ideal home but for Christ's abode in the community

In going out into the world as part of our faith journey we are perpetually sent to find Christ's abode. Christ shows his disciples where he lives through the scriptures and in our hearts as we interact with the people of the world.  In discovering where Christ's abode is we are discovering the end of the question that Christ asks us.  In finding Christ we are in finding that which we are seeking for fulfilment.  We often misinterpret what we are looking for to find fulfilment as we have been taught to find it within the auspices of modern society and life. Only when we truly discover what it is that we are looking for is when we truly find the hope of Christ in our lives.  We accept what we think we want without looking further as our needs are surface orientated.  Christian's seek for a deeper foundation that brings hope to a community.

To be a light in 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.

To go another way

 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 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.

The change the Incarnation makes

Today, or rather tomorrow (as I have prepared this for Christmas Eve), is the day we celebrate the incarnation of Christ our Lord and Saviour as part and parcel of humanity. Not as something or someone that is remote and away from the average John or Jane Doe on the street but a person who is like you and me the average John / Jane Doe on the street. Luke's gospel gives the main seasonal account of the birth of Jesus the Christ child (2:1-20) and as we have heard it is as normal as any other birth in creation. Yes, the circumstances are somewhat lacking by modern circumstances, however, should you go to many impoverished countries around the world you would find birth occurring in similar circumstances. This very unremarkable birth in terms of human society is extraordinary within our own lives as a harbinger of what is to come and as a reminder of what we perhaps miss on an everyday basis, especially as we celebrate at this time of year.

The Incarnation confronts us with radical change - how will we respond?

The world has taken away the mystery of Christ's birth and left us with a commercial entity that begins even before the Advent season. It is the same in our everyday lives, the mystery and the richness that comes with new beginnings has been overtaken by a commercial outlook. Christmas is, at the end of the day, about an extreme change in how we are to see the world and our faith journey. Prior to this birth God was seen as something that was untouchable, unknowable and beyond our simple minds. In the Incarnation we see God's presence in humanity as something that can be touched upon rather than being held apart. Yes, God is and can never be truly known until we see God face to face but here in the Christ child we have the wellspring of the potentiality that allows us access to God's presence within our own lives. This is the hope that is present in the child as it is present in every child that is born into this world. Above all else this is a fundamental change in our own understanding of God's presence. A change that continues into Christ's life and must be taken up in our own Christian lives as we struggle within our ordinary lives.

In our own lives we can see that a new child brings change in the lives of the parents and family. How much more then does the Christ child's birth bring change into our lives and how we are to perceive God? The change from something somewhere to a presence within reach is mind blowing. A presence that shows to us what it means to be a God that is personified in Christ and the love that is found in the presence of a new born child. For we can all acknowledge that love is present at the moment of birth as the child becomes incarnate in the reality of this world. We cannot capture that love for we would all then be cuddling babies in a stagnant world which shows no future. The Christ child grows and suffers the vicissitudes of life just as we do demonstrating to us that love is ever pervasive and ever changing in a world that is filled with doubt. In adoring the child we become part of the ever changing story that is the growth of faith in our lives. It tells us that growth is not possible without change for us as part of God's creation who seek God in our human existence.

In the presence of the Christ child we find ourselves over awed, in the same way as the shepherds in the fields at the sight of the angels (Lk 2:9), as we are confronted with the immeasurable number of possibilities that are present in this moment. Our own response to the freedom that comes in the form of the Incarnation is indicative of our lives and our own yearnings. Are we able to encompass the possibilities or are we going to defer them becoming bound in the stone of our hearts as we are unable to let go of our past? Are we going to grow and change into what God is calling us to or are we going to become unresponsive to that call and see our faith and those around us become demeaned and belittled? God becoming human challenges us with these questions but leaves it to us to respond of our own free will. This Christmas, how are you going to respond as God calls us into the world through the Christ child's presence?

Joy comes in the morning

 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 exuberance of life. Perhaps the issue is that those expressing such exuberance are 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 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.

Preparations for peace

 Today, we are confronted by the violence of war, most directly in the Ukraine. A war that has been brought about purely and simply the result of greed and pride. Both of which have been misplaced to massage the ego of one person. Just like the majority of wars this one has been a grasping for power over the perennial understanding of how to advance in modern society. Indeed in the latest news bulletins it appears that even nature is being used as a lethal weapon towards those who do not bend to tyrannical power. These actions and those of various groups around the world are all founded on the concept of power and authority being based on the use of physical violence to topple those least able to fend for themselves. So, from where do we even begin to derive peace in such situations?

If we consider that war is apparently on top of the world's agenda then its opposite should also be on our lips that being peace. In saying this we need to really understand what it means to say that peace is the opposing force to the greed of war and along with that we need also to confront for ourselves what it means to be in a state of peace and to be part of the process that brings about this state. So what does peace mean to you and me or rather what does it mean for most people if we bandy around words like peace as opposed to war. I am of the opinion that most people associate peace with the absence of violence or war rather than anything else. Yes, I would probably tend to agree that there is a sense of peace that comes with the absence of violence and war and it is probably the most recognised understanding of what peace is. However, I believe that we are actually limiting our understanding of the concept by rigorously seeing it as an apposition to war, war's antonym so to speak.

War and peace are dichotomies that destroy our ability to seek true justice and peace

Isaiah's passage at the beginning of chapter 11 when speaking about the coming Messiah (1-10) does not contain the word peace but is focussed upon a relational understanding that brings about justice. This aspect is rarely dwelt upon when talking about peace. Even when John speaks about preparing the way he refers to relational understandings (Matt. 3:3) and indeed there is a somewhat violent image of Christ's coming (Matt. 3:11-12). In this case peace is reflected in an attitude in which we approach our relationships to achieve God's peace. God requires us to interact in a manner that serves to enhance our relationships so that we can achieve justice and an ability to interact with each other in such a manner that we do not break our relationships. This is the foundational essence of what it means to have peace. War and violence is an extreme example of what it means to break those relationships. It is not the opposite of peace but rather a symptom of our inability to achieve a good relationship when dealing with the other who is unlike us.

In Romans, Paul tackles this subject and speaks about our attitudes in welcome and relationship (Rom. 15:7). He does not speak about war and violence but rather about how we interact with people to bring about the harmony that is inherent in our relationships when we are in true community with each other. This is the alternative that God offers us through the incarnation and the presence of the Christ in our lives. The secular world promotes our own selfish needs and thus in the end it promotes violence and violent opposition to the other who is not us. God's commandments and God's requirements of us as followers of Christ and who are deeply immersed in faith, is that we walk the way of truth and love. In doing so we will inevitably promote the needs of the other, irrespective of whom they might be, rather than pouring denigration and scorn that results in violent rejection and a continuation of all that is opposed to God's love. It is clear from the Romans passage that the ability to listen and to interpret a situation is a valuable way of moving forward. Speech can render people compliant but it can also rouse them to great effort. In caring for God's people we need to ensure that our words are words that create peace rather than the conditions for violence that we so often succumb to in everyday life. By holding to the precepts of God we bring justice and peace into the world as harbingers of peace in the advent of God's kingdom.