A change in our perspective

 We all have to follow the law and yet we are all on the look out to find ways to evade the law. We do not like being constrained by the law. Most especially when we feel that the law encroaches on our own spaces and personal freedoms. We complain if things are not going our way and really speak out if we feel that a law is unjust, even if it might be quite a good law in itself. God and Christ give us commandments which we are told that if we love Christ we will obey (Jn. 14.15). What are these commandments? Simple really Love God and Love our neighbours as ourselves. Nothing really problematic about these. Here comes the rub. We begin to debate with and amongst ourselves about the interpretation of these two laws. Who is God? Is God male or female? Who is our neighbour? If my interpretation of God is different to your interpretation of God does this mean that I am loving God better than you and you need to follow my way? In these very real, to us, questions there is a need to bring in some perspective to deal with the inevitable conflicts but how do we do this when we all argue about interpretation?

God calls us to follow these commandments from our baptism throughout our lives. In becoming bogged down in interpretation we loose the essence of the command that is given to us. It is not in the legal definitions and interpretive arguments that we will find our way but rather in changing our perspective. In fiddling around with the legal definitions we begin to fiddle around with the truth. Once we start playing around with the truth in our lives we begin to fall away from God and our gospel is not supported by the Spirit nor does the Spirit advocate for us. Office bearers, no matter how high in life, tend to look out for themselves and those that they believe will look after them. No matter how much they protest that they follow Christ their deeds point to the truth. The letter 1 Peter talks about our actions towards each other (1 Peter 3:8-9) and yet when we rise to a position that wields power we tend to forget the principles of the Christ-ian ethos of love. We actually need to put away our tendency to look for our advantage and start to see the world from a different view point. In today's society we have lost the true understanding of being whole and holy in the sight of God. In this loss we lose the Spirit enabling us to follow God / Christ and enact the commandments of love.  Just think for a moment about the injunction to love our neighbour.

Let us change our perspective and do rather than think.

If, we are to look at scripture for inspiration on this one, we may find ourselves bogged down in wondering why, if we are to love our neighbours, is God so violent towards them in the Scriptures? or perhaps if God requires justice and peace in the world why is it that there is so much vicarious violence throughout Scripture?  What is it that we are missing? Where are we going wrong in this exercise to find inspiration when all we have is violence and more violence with little in the way of the peace and love God commands us too?  We need to see a different world a world that is filled with the essence of our love for anyone and everyone as we share the resources of the world with each other. The need for our children to see that everyone is the same, creations of and images of God. It is when we instil prejudice and fear of the other in our children that we perpetuate the violence of our history/herstory. We do this naturally, which is why the task set for the community and for godparents and parents is so hard. We very rarely look to those who are on the marginal end of society but rather we look to our friends and those we think will assist us in our own lives. We only have to look at the bigotry, anti-love sentiment in many of our political leaders to understand this. The issue here is that we find it difficult to utilise the power of love in our relationships rather than the power of might and abuse. We lead in our pride and strength rather than in our humbleness and weakness

In changing our perspective on our own lives we begin to understand the requirements that God is asking of us. It is when we begin to speak with truth, the truth of love, which is very up front and honest that we begin to realise what God's power is and how the Spirit advocates for us in the time of need. Our truth speaking needs to be in our lives as we are followers of Christ who is the truth. It is in how we mirror Christ to the world accurately and with truth that enables the Spirit of Truth to be our advocate in the world. When we live lives that are false in terms of God and Christ we lose the advocate and are unable to be the Christian people of the way. It is not that the law that needs interpreting by each individual it is that the law needs enacting by each individual.  It  is as if we have to place the question "what does it mean to me?" on hold and say "How can I perform this in reality?" By looking at the need to take an action we do away with the think and start to do. We operate out of our wish to see the other in a better place than we are.  In doing this the other starts to look at ways of increasing our well being as they follow the example set for them. Can we actually start to do rather than think about doing.

What terrain do you walk your life in?

 The reading from John 14:1-14 is a common reading for funerals as it points us towards the living Christ in Jesus of Nazareth. In doing so we hear in the voice of Christ the words "I am the way, the truth and the life" and for us it is important to dwell not only on the words but also on the order of the words as they are equally as important for us in this well known summary of Christian teaching. Perhaps one of the things that we do not take cognisance of is that all the words are important when we come to the interpretation not just "way", "truth" and "life". Indeed, perhaps most critical in this statement are the two words at the start of the statement "I am".

In John's gospel one of the common phrases that are used throughout the gospel are the two words "εγω ειμαι" or "I am". This particular phrase is perhaps more important than anything else in this passage. In reading and examining this phrase in this particular context we need to understand that it originates in Exodus 3:14 as God speaks to Moses. From this verse we can calculate that "I am" ≡ God. So when we look at this verse, yes it points to the Christ as part of the Godhead but it is more than that for in pointing to the Godhead it is pointing to the conception and understanding that God is, not solely Jesus, but the whole of the Godhead. In seeing the Trinitarian aspect of this we can see the Trinitarian aspect of the phrase as a whole. In not seeing this then we delude ourselves in our belief of the Trinity focusing only on one aspect and stating that that one aspect is the whole.

In breaking the phrase up into its component parts we then begin to understand the complexity that is inherent within the saying. God is the "way" and the way that we walk as Sojourners on the way is the way of Love that is epitomised in God the "Father" in our humanisation of God. Not everyone can deal with the idea of the "Father" figure and we should not either. The conception of love is epitomised by the family and if we see the "Father" not as a singularity but as a parent then we begin to understand the reality of this analogous figure. The parental offering of love is eternal and it is this that is the "way" that we walk. Christians are singled out by our faith by the call into love whether it be for someone we like or someone we find difficult to relate to we are called to love. So for us our choice must always be the path of love. Early Christians were called the people of the Way and our way is the way of love. In making this connection we begin our journey as People of the Way.

Which way are you walking?

The truth is revealed in Christ in the way Christ lived and spoke. We tend to focus only on the humanity of Jesus for this is what is easiest for us to understand and relate to. Christ the anointed one challenges us in our relationships to live the "truth" of the "way". The "truth" of love. Even Pilate acknowledged that "truth" is a difficult thing to understand in our lives when he states "What is truth?" (Jn. 18.38). Each of us interprets what is read, seen, undertaken, etc differently and so it is inevitable that "truth" seems to be changeable especially when it comes to something that is judged as holy or of prime importance to our faith. Each time we look at scripture we interpret it from our own perspective. The only interpretation that is "truth" is the interpretation that is surrendered to love or the "way". If we begin to place our own thoughts in to this space then we begin to distort what is "truth". If our interpretation brings love into the world then we are approaching "truth", if it brings dissension and discord then we are moving away from God and "truth".

Lastly, the Spirit of God brings "life" into everything that is around us. In going back to the very beginning, it is the ruach or the Spirit of God that moves over the waters and the depths of chaos (Gen. 1.2). This is the creative force that allows us to follow the "way" in "truth" without which we would be stuck within the confines of ourselves with no ability to imagine anything beyond ourselves.  It is the rugged track not the tarmacked road that we so often travel along in our lives. Following only what our ancestors have laid down not where God leads us into the little known creative paths that bring us to beauty and love. We have to become more creative in how we bring God's love into those around us in the moment of crisis. The Spirit brings us "life" in the darkest moments of our lives. It is this "life" lived in the "way" of love that is spoken about here. The "truth" which brings us into the new eternal life that God promises in the resurrection.

So as people of the way we follow God, however we may conceive God, when we walk in love. A love that understands the truth and is creative and imaginative in how it is displayed in society around us. To say that we are Christian is to state that we walk in the way of love, we respect and use truth to form love not hatred and we are ever inventive and creative in understanding the world and its people who are created by God.

Opening the door to a new life

 The difficulty we face today is the fact that we have unlimited choice in what we want as individuals.  No one really worries, or dare I say it cares, about your choices so long as they are within the limits of the law.  This may mean that you go off to windsurf and form your community with those who do the same.  Perhaps you enjoy a glass of red and would prefer to do this surrounded by strangers, whom you may eventually get to know in a bar.  No matter what we are doing so long as we are satisfied, then who cares?  The one choice we are perhaps scared to make is a choice with regards our own spiritual journey because as soon as we make a choice in this arena we are pounced on from all and sundry.  The biases of the community to our faith journey is evident in the presumptions.  Your a Christian? those are the ones that go around drinking a persons blood and saying one thing but doing the complete opposite. Like politicians.  or Your a Muslim?  why aren't you wearing one of those covering things? aren't you all terrorists?  A Jew? aren't you the ones that say you look after the poor and the orphan but then go and create more by bombing the Palestinians?  These are hard accusations against any faith community based on limited understanding. So what makes the Christian community or any faith community a faith community?

For Christians, it starts with an acceptance, an acceptance of Christ who holds open a door into post-resurrection life (Jn 10.1-10).  Only when we truly enter into that life by stepping over the threshold of death do we begin to form the community that Christ  / God calls us into. Yet there is more to this than just acceptance and entry.  We enter into resurrection life by passing through our own deaths.  The death of our own individual wants and desires.  An entry into a life that is centred not on our own selves but on God.  It is a grouping of individuals that have allowed their trust to blossom between themselves and God in such a manner as to allow God to lead them.  It is not a community that is built on shame or on the concept of shaming someone to do something.  It is a group that builds its relationship around trust.  Trust in the other that is not myself and trust in the other that is ultimately other.  By opening the door Christ invites us into a relationship that is built on trust and love.  For us to become a viable part of that trusting community we need to shed our own desires and wants that we impose on others around us. This begins at baptism when we invite parents and god parents to bring their child to the font and ask them to instil these precepts in the life of the child. If we do not and our sponsors do not how can we build on trust? and in love?

Discerning the call into community not individuality

© Blake Coffee .churchwhisperer.com 

We open ourselves up to God and God's community, allowing God to direct and build according to God's will not in accordance with our will.  How is this done?  It is about letting go of our self centredness, our selfishness and perhaps, like the early followers of Christ immediately post resurrection (Acts 2.42-47), it is centred around the worship of God and prayer.  It is not centred around the crutches that we often depend on in today's world to focus our minds and let us know that God is present. Today, it is as if we cannot let go of ourselves and enter into God's presence without a symbolic crutch.  In those early days there were no symbols of the risen Lord only knowledge of God's presence as the worshippers immersed themselves in prayer.  We come together to form community around the table in communal worship.  It is not individual time to be with God when we come to worship; it is community being formed in God.  The joy and the hope that is formed is a joy and hope in community.  We are individuals outside of the worshipping community but we form the community in worship.  Each time we come together as a community we come together in the presence of God and allow his Spirit to affect our behaviour in Community.  If we set ourselves apart from the community, by clinging to our crutches, we no longer form as God's community but rather we come together as a bunch of individuals supermarket shopping for a Spiritual experience.

Walking alone or as Com-panis

 I think that opening ourselves up may well be a perennial challenge for us when we look at proclaiming or at least stating our faith beliefs. Often when we are asked with regards our faith we are reluctant to state anything. If you are like me the thing I have an issue with is when someone comes up to you and says "Do you believe in Jesus?". I really want to ask "what do you mean?" as a reply just to ensure that the person speaking is not making a false idol out of the use of the name "Jesus". At this time of year we state quite clearly "Christ is risen! Alleluia!" not "Jesus is risen". That is why we are Christians not Jesusians and we must be very careful with what we proclaim and how we proclaim or state our faith. This I believe leads quite often to fear, fear of being misunderstood or lumped in with others who proclaim voraciously but act as non-Christian as can be. Yet, the risen Christ states to the women on the day of resurrection "Do not be afraid" (Matt 28.10). How then can we understand the manner in which it is acceptable and not cringe-worthy to respond to this challenge of proclamation without fear but with confidence?

Do we like Peter get up and preach in such a manner on the street corner? (Acts 2). I think that it is more important for us today to look at the end of this particular chapter and not at what Peter is doing. We have not just been anointed with the Holy Spirit that led Peter out into the middle of the city but rather we are or should be living the life of a Christ follower. It is in the last verses of this chapter that our attention needs to focus (Acts 2.43-47). This is the community as it begins in terms of fellowship and worship. One of the things that we do not do quite so well is that described in verses 46-47 which for me is the crucial point as it concludes with "And day by day the Lord added new converts to their number". This is past Peter's speech it is the communal aspect that brings new converts. A communal life that is open to all and brings others into contact with the understanding through teaching and fellowship of what the Gospel means in our present day lives. We need to be expressing our faith and preaching the Gospel in the way we live our daily lives by exploring our faith together.

We do not walk alone when we walk with those who share bread (Com-panis - companions)

In moving forward we move together assisting each other much as the two disciples on the walk to Emmaus do. They are speaking together about their faith trying to understand so that when the risen Christ comes into their midst they offer the hospitality of the road joining together and accepting the other. So often in our faith journeys with each other we are prone to close ourselves of from those who look at the scriptures in a different manner to ourselves. We become judgemental in our outlook as we assure ourselves that we read and interpret in the tradition that is "right" without opening ourselves up to the mystery that is God. This is perhaps best illustrated in the latest pronouncements by GAFCON in terms of communion with others. Who knows what is "right"?; certainly not me. The disciples are open to the ideas propounded by the other and do not dismiss them as being incorrect or wrong or not according to the way they have been taught. The hospitality of the way is an openness to the other so that we can weave our entangled lives together on a path that leads us all to God. It is a hospitality that reaches out to include those who are different from us so that we can discuss our journeys along the interweaving paths of God's graciousness.

Yet, we are afraid. We fear the vulnerability that comes with this type of open hospitality as we cower behind our doors and lives. We are unable to speak clearly of our faith as we suppose that we do not have the "fancy words" that modern society expects in our explanations. We have a fear that we will incorrectly express what God means in our lives and what the risen Christ is to us. We fear the ridicule that comes with disbelief. Most of this fear is a result of our fear that the borders of our neatly prescribed religious beliefs are going to be penetrated and overcome in the language of disbelief that society regales us with. Yet, in clinging so fast to the border we forget that only when these are flexible and porous to the other can we entertain each other in hospitality and generosity showing God's love and grace to the other.

New fire to begin a new life

 Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed! But how do we approach this new thing, this new life that is given to us in the darkness of the pre-dawn.  Does it actually mean anything to us as we gather at the place of worship or is it another thing that is on the agenda for this weekend?  Take the kids of to some exciting camp ground or to the coast or to a secluded spot away from it all  isn't that better than going to a stuffy old church and listening to another boring old sermon?  and if we do go away do we go to a distant church were no one will know us just for the tradition that tells us we should go to church?

In this age when people are less drawn to the concept of a commitment to a place or an institution where we find those that do are becoming older and more frustrated as they feel the demands of 'religion' placed upon their shoulders, what does it mean to celebrate new life and the mystery that is the Risen Christ.  How can we re-capture this mystery within our lived lives in a manner that will draw us into Christ's presence in our lives and those of the community? The darkness of our daily lives appears not to be dispelled by the new fire that is lit for us.  The new fire brings an image of warmth and community as we gather around to bless the candle that for us becomes a symbol of Christic love in the world.  We have survived the previous days challenges, the death of a human upon a cross.  We saw the humility, the graciousness with which the anointed one died.  We sat on the side lines without interfering, much as we do today in light of injustice and power.  So here we have gathered as a community.

New fire burns away the dry dead old life

We become aware that it is our mortality that has been surrendered, our frailty that has been given in the body of the anointed one as we are invited to new life by those who are at the tomb.  The body is not here, we gave up our lives on the cross when we surrendered to Christ's love in our lives at our baptism.  We have been invited away from our old lives. It is a time of rejoicing, our introspection should have been undertaken as we approached the cross initially. Now in the joy of seeing our risen Lord we need to acknowledge our own death so that we also can rise with Christ. What we should not do is go looking into the past that is dead to us to find the newness in life that is promised by Christ in his resurrection. Christ comes to us from the future not the past and in coming to us from the future we accept him into our lives knowing and abetting the change that this brings. We celebrate the burning away of the dead wood as we light the new fire, the fire of the Spirit in our lives as we move forward on the journey to the risen life. We pass through baptism acknowledging that we will live in truth and in Christ. We were reminded of that surrendering on Good Friday.  Both visually and physically as we wept at the foot of the cross, a weeping for our old lives.  We have been washed in the waters of baptism and cleansed so that we too might partake of Christ's risen life.  He has gone on before us and as we renew ourselves within the waters of baptism so we commit ourselves once more to that call from outside of ourselves.  

We celebrate today in the present. We allow the past to die. We begin a new life in the future with Christ. In celebrating today we need to place all our effort into fulfilling the vows that we take. Only in allowing ourselves to die will we begin to rise into something different. Unfortunately for many today this will be an exercise in futility as we do not wish to die. The horror that we feel is present in death is persuasive and denies us the support that we need to fulfil Christ's promise. In our denial we loose our rebirth and are unable to become as Christ as we bring with us the sins of the past. We immediately forget the words at the beginning of each service and the light that is re-lit at dawn, Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!

Let your will be done

 It seems awfully strange to be in the middle of Lent and yet celebrating the Annunciation a joyful event in the midst of the recognition of our sinfulness. However, as we consider this anomaly, we need to recognise that it is a good example for us to consider in terms of our own lives and our own position in light of Mary's fate filled words of obedience. For in essence these are the words that should fill our hearts at a time, such as Lent, as the journey towards the cross and the appearance of new life is a journey of total obedience that has been learnt through the trials of history, again and again by individuals. Looking back through time we can see the moments when the Christian faith produces timeless knowledge that sprouts from the minds of the influential mystics and theological giants of the ages.

Are we prepared for the obedience of Mary?

Ahaz to a certain extent learns the lesson of obedience in a somewhat awkward exchange with God (Is 7:10-13). Like us, Ahaz has determined for himself how to respond to God believing that what he thinks is for the best. God asks him to ask for a sign but he stubbornly believes that he does not require a sign and should not pester God in is this moment. Unlike other passages within the scriptures, which I am sure Ahaz was perhaps thinking of, this is not a test but a command and in refusing the command God gives the vision and speaks of the coming sign. A sign is to be seen as something that points the way forward and we so often misconstrue the sign for the end point and divert our energy towards the sign and not towards the end point to which it points. The author of Hebrews is perhaps, in an oblique manner pointing to the same thing in terms of signs and signification when speaking about sacrifice (10.4-10).

The sacrifice that God wants is a sacrifice within our own hearts. The sacrifice or making sacred required to be enacted on a regular occasion is in reality something that is of significance because it points towards God's presence. It is a visible and a visceral sign that points to God's presence within the participating community. It brings to life that aspect of the Holy embodied in God's presence as we make things sacred. Yet, if we are to dwell on the act of sacrifice in this manner we obscure the real sacrifice that we do not wish to make for ourselves and that is the sacrifice of our own selves. An act of faith in the ultimate other. We cannot bear the thought of the loss that comes with such a sacrifice as it means or rather, we think it means, a total loss of self. The possibility of such a loss is too much for us to bear within our hearts and minds. Yet, this sacrifice is our surrender to God of ourselves which we proclaim at the end of each Eucharistic service. Those words said in such a routine manner that they have in reality become meaningless to ourselves until we are confronted with the response that Mary gives.

We have engrained within our very being the notion of self, for those of us from a Western European heritage or those that have been caught within the educative processes of such a heritage. We have lost the ability of surrender and are unable to conceive for ourselves what such a sacrifice and stepping out in faith means. We have become the Israelites who failed to enter the Promised Land. The cultural background that is present in Mary's response is a background that gives to God obedience to God's presence and a recognition of the community to which we belong that is also in God. We have grown accustomed to the understanding that we are solely responsible for ourselves and ourselves alone. In this case obedience is no longer a discipline that we aspire to as it can lead to so many problematics within our lives. Even as children in the modern world the understanding of obedience is limited and rebelled against. Yet, for those that are called by God into a ministry of any sort the underlying discipline in that call is obedience to God's word and not to our own desires. This is of course even more so for those called into ordained ministry. So as we continue to walk towards the cross at Easter, entering into the final weeks of the journey, we need to take up our cross which is our lack of understanding and wilful neglect of our obedience to God, so that we can understand that greater purpose that is present in such obedience.

Blindness in our thinking

 The reading from John's gospel about the man born blind (Jn. 9.1-41) is acknowledged by most modern scholars as being the sixth sign in the book of signs. The story, whilst written for an audience that was probably in the throes of separation from the greater Jewish synagogue faith system, has much to teach us in today's world. It cannot be taken literally but rather is to be interpreted from an allegorical standpoint with theological implications that resound in today's societal shifts and fears.

The analogy of being blind points to ourselves in many ways as we come together as a part of the body of Christ. The implications are many, especially for those who have an adamantine exterior and close ourselves of from what others are saying. Our first port of call must be a recognition of ourselves as but mortal. At the start of Lent during the imposition of ashes there is a stark reminder of this in the words "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". If we truly recognise this then we must also recognise that in our mortality we cannot encompass the understanding of God in totality. The author of the story is pointing out to those within the synagogue system that their conceptions are just that and no matter how many rules that are put in place, God will always appear in the place that is the most unexpected. We cannot be and are not the sole arbiters of what is perceived to be the truth as we ourselves do not know the fulness of God and indeed are not God.

Open the eyes of those who are blind to your presence

Given our own blindness in many things how do we respond to this story today? Perhaps, one of the things we need to remind ourselves of is that we need to become Christlike in our responses. In grappling with issues that are going to divide communities we actually need to respond with compassion and understanding. To often we have two responses, fear of power or instant come back knowing that we are right. This is the flight or fight response. A most basic flight response of those on the rim of the circle, so to speak, is to huddle down and be like the parents in the story comfortable where we are and having no wish to upset the powers who are deemed to have authority. There are too many situations in our current world that offer these two responses and only these two responses. We are bearers of the faith in Christ who is in God and as such we bring the light of truth into the world through our actions and our words. If we are too thoughtless about those around us then we will fight with little regard as to its effect on the community (Perhaps, the recent formation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross reminds us of this in a fundamental manner). Equally as inappropriate is the approach that means we bow down to what the hierarchy says. We stay in our comfort zone and there is little disruption to our way of life and we have little regard once more for those around us who are questioning or are in need. Instead of thinking of novel ways to be Christlike to the world around us we fall back on what we are told to do and blindly follow.

The community of faith is not asked to build walls to keep people out but rather it is asked to open our fences and see God in the other. In doing so we begin to realise that we have been truly blind to God's presence amongst us and our own need to change. In the face of adversity and challenge to our thinking we need to be open to the newness of life that God brings in the form of Christ's light in our hearts. Let us truly open our eyes to God's work in and through the other as we explore our own frailties in the presence of the other. Our danger today is to create the leper's boundary rather than to accept the leper into full community. This is particularly relevant as we move forward in terms of the proposed referendum and the Voice to Parliament. It is likely that old wounds and historical grievances are likely to colour our views. Yet, we must not be blind to God's justice and God's peace which comes through the love of the other and not through our own perceptions.