Com panis for sharing in community

 As we have seen last week, irrespective of the year, there are certain recurring stories that come from the resurrection event that are indelibly connected to the whole of the Easter period. Along with Thomas' story is the walk to Emmaus (Lk 24.13-35). This has become a triggering point for many in their journey towards Christ. There is a whole movement that is connected with the Emmaus story that brings people to Christ through their own walk via a structured retreat and companionship.

The story itself has I am sure been dissected many times and in a variety of ways to illustrate some point in terms of Christ's resurrection and its meaning for us in the modern day. Perhaps its most enduring feature is one of companionship and what that means for us as Christians or rather what it means for all those that seek to follow the Christian way. I have heard, often enough, people who say that they have no need of the Church and in certain circumstances with nuanced meaning I could actually agree with them. However, this episode in the story points us to something that has to be ingrained in humanities essence, let alone the Christian journey and path. This story tells us that we cannot, either as collective humanity or as followers of the way, keep ourselves in isolation. Yes, sometimes isolation helps us to understand what is going on, even Christ went into isolation at times. Yet isolationism is not a good state of being because for the most part the human psyche is driven towards community. One in and of its own cannot exist for any length of time and indeed cannot exist without a referral.

Companionship and community is found in the sharing of bread and food

Does the story of companionship and walking the way have a relevance for today and particularly for the ministry units and dioceses that form the Anglican church in Australia? I believe that it gives us a way forward and always has done but one that we have ignored or deliberately set aside for our own individuality. At our individual level, the answer is fairly obvious, that we cannot be on the way as a Christian without support of companions. That is not really something that can be put aside. However, what we do not do is see that companionship in a greater context. In our governance we see each parish / ministry unit, irrespective of diocese or even province, as an individual entity that must survive on its own. Despite our understanding of the body of Christ and all our scriptures to the contrary we believe that each unit is an independent entity. In some dioceses there are even units that compete against each other or see themselves as better or more substantive in the politics of the region/diocese/province. What happened to the body or at least the ability to walk together and share bread?

We are often to hung up on our theology or our individuality that we forget to see the larger picture. This to a certain extent is a carry over from the archaic parish model but has been a serious debilitating view that effects the thinking at Diocesan level and at Provincial level within the Anglican provenance. Since the enlightenment the foremost thought in our minds has been the individual. This is so opposed to the evolutionary culture of the human race which is a tendency towards community. All indigenous peoples throughout the world build their understanding of the world around community. Community means walking with each other in companionship and understanding, if not love. Christian faith has developed from indigenous groups who understood the meaning of community. In walking with Christ towards Emmaus we also begin to understand the need for community and companionship that overcomes all barriers that we place to protect our individuality.

 

Room for doubt

 I think I said last year that today is Doubting Sunday. Each year we are heralded with the story of Thomas Didymus and his doubts. I always wonder why this story above all others is something to dedicate the Sunday to, would it not be better to have a story that is filled with more than doubts but an exuberance of hope? Doubt and hope often go together and it is on this Sunday each year we see there convergence in a figure that has grown figuratively with each passing century. It is absolutely certain that no matter how we twist the story or delve into the depths of the psychology Thomas remains as one of the preeminent figures of the resurrection story and its impact on faith life. We can interpret as being a reflection of our own doubts; we can pinpoint and splurge on the absolute faith the disciple eventually displays; we can marvel at the erroneous depictions of that fate filled non-existent touch and so on and so forth.

Irrespective of how we play the scene out or how we make an effort in exegesis of this particular passage and all the hype that goes with it there is one thing that is absolutely and totally important for us and that is that faith has room for doubt or perhaps put another way there can be no faith without some doubt. I can hear murmurs of discontent in the corner suggesting that there can only be faith there is no room for doubt. It is this attitude, I am afraid that has led to much of our modern dilemma around faith and religion. It is the hard core that drive this model of faith. More often than not it turns more people away from an understanding of love in our presence which we believe is God. The insistence on people only believing what they are told by denominational dogma has led people away from the truth of faith in the hearts and minds of many. This leads to fear of tyranny whilst doubt leads to questions and truth. A truth proclaimed not by dogma but by God.

Even in science the most dominant force in our age of enlightenment and the furthest from any form of religious debate has examples of how doubt and faith our intermingled. Whilst scientists rely on method and an almost religious holding to their way of doing things the holding of doubt is time honoured as is the possibility of faith in a line of investigation. Doubt inevitably leads to investigation, we all know this or should. Doubt also can lead us into an understanding of faith that is deeper than anything that comes from following known rules and dogmatic statements. In the 1990s a PhD student doubted the historic dogma regarding the origin of benign tumours in women's reproductive organs. The doubts expressed led to investigation and eventually proof of fundamental difference which changed the dogma that had been held for hundreds of years. How does this relate to ourselves in the faith community?

Doubt leads to questioning and prayer to find God's truth and love in faith

If we think about it much of our dogmatic faith understandings have been in place for not hundreds but often thousands of years with little change. These faith understandings were created outside of our modern understanding and have not fully transitioned with time. God is a God of change but is also a God of love, a love that is transcendent and unaccountable. If our understanding of God's love is held in a gridlock for a thousand of years while God changes how can doubt not arise. This is not to say that what we believe is not right but rather that our faith must be as immutable as God's love and yet as ever changing as God's Spirit as it moves in the world. It means that in our doubt we must and are allowed to explore the veracity of God's presence in our lives in a manner that we too can exclaim "My Lord and my God" without having to lean on dogma and doctrine for proof but rather show God's love working in a new and wondrous manner. Dogma and faith have been so bound up that the freedom to believe in God has been lost to an attitude that proclaims the "true" way rather than God's presence that leads us to the light of wisdom and love in a world deprived of hope.

In our doubts we can still find room for God's grace and presence to bring the true light of love and light into our hearts as we explore with a new era of the presence of God within. Teaching us and guiding us to love in the communities in which we live and work. It is only with this risen life within us that we can truly proclaim the light of God's presence and our response in the manner and belief that is in the voice of the doubter Thomas "My Lord and my God".

Challenge and response

 So we come to our time of joy and celebration. The joy of celebrating the Resurrection to new life with Christ. The reading from Matthew's gospel is perhaps a reading of disruption (Matt. 28.1-10). The first disruption, if we can call it that, is the fact that the focus is on the women at a time when patriarchy was dominant. The second disruption is the removal of the stone which is closely followed by the third disruption which is the appearance of Christ. These three points of disruption are all for us in the past and yet erupt time and time again into the present to show us a future, which brings with it the promise of newness and further disruption of our lives. Only when we can perceive the opportunities that are raised by disruption will we be able to see the possibilities of new life in ours. Let us look at each point of disruption that occurs and plumb, certainly not all, some of the depths that are hidden in the story.

Feminist theology has been pointing out for a number of years the in built biases that are present in the scriptures regarding dominance and colonisation of marginalised groups, including women. Yet in this passage women are brought to the fore in writing that is dominated by maleness. (I am sure there are other more feminist readings that will point out a greater against the grain reading but that is not my intention here). The very fact, however it came about, that there is this specific rendering of fe/maleness in this place at this time is disruptive. It mocks our understanding of relationship and sources of theological rendering of maleness in authority and power. If we are to doubt at any time the role of women in our faith then this is disrupted here in this most important reading on this most important day. A day that tells of new life and change. How we need to disrupt our normal patterns to realise that the patterns of Christ and God are so different from our own way of thinking as we move into a future that is as yet uncertain.

The second disruption (Matt. 28.2) is where there is the appearance of an external agency to roll away the stone that closes the tomb. This is not normal in any one's imagination let alone reality but this is what confronts us in the Gospel. Is it a literary intervention to explain the absence of the closure? Mayhap, it is something to counter the rumours of theft as are recorded in sources external to the Gospels in the canon (see also Matt. 28.11-15)? No matter. We are all, always confronted by the stone that stops us from understanding with faith. There is a consistent blockage for those who live in today's world. This world is based on obtaining knowledge and proof of how things work, made, etc. Previously, our world was based on the ability to have faith and believe that it was so. In some respects we have come from one end of a spectrum to the other in one easy leap. Today, we have no time for things which appear to be fantastical or figments of others imaginations. In some respects we have strengthened the stone that bars our progress towards a relevant understanding. It often takes an intervention to move that rock, a disruption to what we believe to be possible based on proof. It is only when the stone is removed can we really transform our lives by understanding the balance that must pertain between faith and proof through knowledge only then will the stone that blocks our perception be removed.

The final disruption is of course the appearance of Christ, the first of two post Resurrection appearances in Matthew (28.9-10). The appearance is shocking for its unexpectedness as they run back to the others. Suddenly, the risen Christ confronts (not violently) the women as they rush to return. They are forced into a new pattern and set of beliefs by Christ's presence in the world.  We are confronted with the possibility, centred in Christ of new life,  beyond what we understand and know. Beyond belief and even for some beyond faith. This systemic shock to our system imperils our senses and our world. The disruption of the possibility of a new way an alternative understanding confronts us. The question remains for each of us what are we going to do about it?

The disruption of new life brings uncertainty and fear but also joy and love

 In many respects this is what we face now, as we move forward towards a different way of being as a diocese and our understanding of the world. The receivership has unexpectedly disrupted our lives and we are forced to confront a new future. Just as our thinking of inequality and injustice is disrupted by the centrality of the wo/man so all our previous thinking, e.g. our ministry units, our way of ordering things, our finances, etc. is disrupted by the presence of the receiver. Just as the wo/men were confronted with an external force lifting the barriers confronting them so to the receiver is an exterior force that is making us rethink the barriers facing us in terms of how we cope in a world beyond tradition. Can political advantage and disadvantage remain the same, can we overcome the barriers of bias in our thinking of others, etc. Lastly the disruption of Christ and our acceptance of new life lies open before us as we re-think all of our accepted practices and try to bring new life to community and neighbours in a new model of church in the world.

Political contest or passionate celebration

 Today, we begin the final steps in the intricate walk towards the cross and the offer of new life found in the resurrection. We begin that journey in celebratory fashion as crowds join together in welcome and we end in a singularity of supplication prior to the final moments. In our services for today mention is made of both moments, initially in songs of praise and celebration and then a moment of silence and drama as we hear the finality of the journey in the reading of the Passion. We take moments from the week to celebrate and participate in but today is really the only day that we bring the whole together and are able to reflect on the aporia of the whole (a celebration of life in death).

In examining the entrance of Christ into the Passover celebration at the beginning of the week (Matt. 21.1-11) we re-live the anticipation of change that many accept into their lives as they come into contact with the living Christ. We are engulfed in passionate response to an accepted and anticipated change that will throw the whole of our known lives into tumult. This is what is happening as the people come to honour the arrival of one who is going to change the very fabric of their daily lives. The challenge to Empire and authority imposed on us from outside is present in the very procession of entry that is reserved only for the Emperor and his representative. This is the expectation as the populace celebrate and we celebrate the start of this day. Prophesy is becoming actuality because today we see it in action as the Messiah the Anointed one arrives in the city of Jerusalem to take over rulership and lead us all into a new life.

In the excitement that engulfs us we little realise what that changes actually augurs for us. In celebrating our coming into new life there has to be confrontation with the old as it attempts to maintain its hold on us. Analogically we can see this as we move through the week and enter into Christ's passion (Matt. 26.14-27.54). The start perhaps is in the offering of food as we begin our new relationship. Just as any friendship really begins in the celebration of hospitality in the presence of new beginnings. Yet almost in the same breath we a brought up short as we recognise that our lives are about to change so drastically that we ourselves will not be the same. How many of us have felt this agony and reluctance almost as we make decisions that are life changing?

In our present aloneness we can find comfort and identification with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. The agonising decision to follow through and allow the consequences of his actions to come to fruition as God would have it done. We pray in our desperation for this hour to pass as we too struggle with the consequences of others and our decisions in a world that is so much more connected then it was. Yet, as we mourn the loss of our old world, which will largely be crucified by popular opinion, just like Christ, we will rise into a new life. A new life, which while different, will be the one that brings into the comfort of God's presence in our lives. No longer can we hold to our past assumptions but we must open our eyes to a new understanding of community and neighbourliness.

Do we raise our palms in celebration or in supplication?

So to question whether this Palm Sunday is a Sunday of celebration or supplication and political expediency is to question ourselves at the start of our own introspective journey to new life. Are we still celebrating the possibilities that have been given to us without realising the agonising decisions that still need to be made? or are we at the point where with Christ later in the week we are praying desperately, not as Christ prays but for our own selfish indecisiveness and political ends? Are we truly prepared for the changes that are taking place in our lives? Can we in reality overcome the difficult choices that are to be made and open ourselves to the call of God's Spirit that leads us towards new life in Christ, which begins with our decisions and our acceptance of the consequences?

Covering death

 As we approach Easter and the resurrection we are confronted by are own mortality in the story of Lazarus (Jn 11). The issue is that we are afraid of our own deaths and believe that immortality is achieved by holding death at bay for as long as we can. The result is that we cling to what we believe is life bringing even if it only hastens our own deaths. Indeed we parse death and flit over the topic as much as possible by using euphemisms, 'I am sorry for her passing' or 'I am sorry that you lost the one you loved.', all to avoid saying the dread word "death". My mother replied to one such statement on my father's death "He died dear. I would be very foolish to have lost him."

In confronting our own fears we open the space up and allow God's healing Spirit in. Instead of death we find life, instead of despair we find life. The truthfulness of our lives confronts the seeds of destruction more than our denials ever will. Life in God comes when we understand that we must die.  Our whole spiritual journey is about confronting death and bringing truth into our lives. At the start of our journey we 'die' as we are baptised. Death is there at the beginning but we are too young to understand which is why our parents and Godparents take that responsibility on for us. We take that responsibility on board at confirmation. Death is only a pre-cursor to life. Next week we begin our week long journey to the cross beginning with Palm Sunday. It is a passionate story that leads through every imaginable emotion but ends in the knowledge and understanding that God is present in every single moment of our lives even at the point of death.

We cover death up rather than seeing new life

It is so often the case that we moan and complain about our lives more often than not to draw attention to ourselves. It is our egos that are the problem and we allow them to get away with an enormous amount. Unless we can truly understand how great God's love is for us we will be forever lost in the gray lands of death. Ever seeking but only finding our own complaints. Yes, we so often feel that we have been abandoned by God, like Mary and Martha, like Christ on the cross, but it is God who has carried us through our emotional upheaval to the other side where new life awaits. In not realising this we squander God's gift. Yet, there is more to this than just God's gift of life. We have to accept it. We have to receive it. We have to collaborate with it. Any parent can tell you that a child may not accept the offer of love that a parent brings but go their own way, only to be picked up of the floor at a later stage by the rejected love of the parent.

In our lostness we turn a blind eye to God's love feeling abandoned and neglected.  Yet, we need only accept the change that God brings and open our eyes to the working of the Spirit within our lives that we will begin to understand that we have never been abandoned.  We see with eyes of the lost not with eyes of the found. We see with eyes of fear not with eyes of hope.  We see with eyes of abandonment not with eyes of love.  Last week I spoke of changing how we perceive others now we need to see with eyes that are turned outward not inward on our own depression. Hope burgeons all around us if we only had eyes with which to see. In place of grief see happiness, in place of loss see new life, in place of depression see hope.

Seeing our own faults

 How do we see? How do we look? How do we perceive the world around us? We would probably, at least the majority, with our eyes or maybe through sound or touch. Would we use terms like taste or smell I wonder?  No matter the means of our sight we interpret that through our own minds / brains and have been inculcated with a certain response to certain sights, sounds, tastes, smells, etc. One of our challenges is to see without the interference of our senses and prior knowledge. Samuel failed miserably in determining the status of David (1 Sam, 16.1-13) as did the Pharisees (John 9). I expect that all of us fail in the same way as we jump to conclusions from our prior knowledge and our upbringing.

A good example is highlighted by the Dalai Lama when he reminds us of is our own propensity to see violence as glamorous rather than to see relational harmony as the preferred norm. However, If we doubted this propensity to blindness in any way we need only look at the immediacy of the judgements of the twitter-sphere and social media over the past few years to see this blindness in operation. It is inherent in all of us, as we make judgements of others in terms of our own experiences and our own imaginaries.  The issue with this ultimately biased view point is that we are quite capable of  not seeing the marginalised, the fringe dwellers, those that we judge as being beneath, literally and figuratively, our notice. It is only when those that are on the margins make a big enough nuisance of themselves, the blind man (John 9), that we take notice of our own challenged views. Even then we may do nothing about them as we are too blinded by our own thoughts that we cannot conceive of an alternate way of seeing. This blindness can overtake us in everything that we do, not only in the public realm but also in the private and the faith dimensions of our lives. Everything that we do is coloured by our pre-judgements.

Our blindness leads to our not seeing with God's eyes

In our Lenten journey we are asked to face up to the more difficult aspects of our lives. One of these is really looking at ourselves and acknowledging our own faults so that we can seek God's grace and Spirit to guide us into a new space of  possibility.  It is only when we begin to see through the eyes of God that we begin to understand our relationships and develop our community. The commandment is to 'love our neighbours as ourselves', if we are unable to acknowledge, let alone love, our own faults how can we manage to love our neighbours. It is often this task of self acknowledgement that we neglect and avoid.  Samuel is chastised for his lack of effort at the beginning of the reading (1 Sam. 16.1-13) and proceeds to compound this lack by using his own judgements to second guess God. It is only when David comes that he realises that God judges on other criteria and not the criteria we as humans use. In looking around at ourselves we should be strong enough to understand that our pre-judgements are not those of God.

It is when we actually 'get over' our own self doubts and self indulgences that we begin to realise that God is actually affirming and drawing the people of God into new relationships. The joy and the wonder that is God's presence in our lives is only truly visible when we place ourselves on hold. Samuel finally realises that by working with God the world is changed. Like the blind man we must accept the Spirit of God in our midst, even if it looks strange because we are seeing it with a new openness that was not there before. We ourselves are blind until we allow God in to change our sense of perception. To be holy is to see the world through the eyes of God and to further God's demand for justice and peace.

Water water everywhere

 Water scarcity was highlighted in 2015 when  UNICEF reported that 1 in 10 people were unable to access potable water for drinking. A horrifying statistic when the human body is so dependent on water to live. The lack of fluid sustenance, water, is the one thing that is guaranteed to bring about complaints from a group of people quicker than the lack of food (Ex. 17.1-7). Coupled with the fact that we live on a world that is about 70% water and thus have an abundance of it; it is perhaps odd to think in terms of scarcity. It is this difference between abundance and scarcity that is highlighted by Christ at the well (Jn 4.5-42). A stunning comparison when looked at in light of the Israelite's response in the desert and that of the disciples. We also need to re-think our response in our Lenten journey to determine if we are being like Christ or seeing through the eyes of complaint.

The pressure that is placed upon the leadership group of the Israelites through complaint comes to a head in the scene in Exodus as Moses pleads with God for a solution. As we read elsewhere this becomes Moses downfall as he behaves in an irascible manner (in a way we cannot blame him given the moans of Israel; how many of us have been in similar situations?). In times of pressure when people are without or believe themselves to be without we act in a way that is often detrimental to the community as a whole. For example while we are told of a 'lack' or shortage of water in places around the world I am always amazed by two things.  Firstly, we allow all the abundance of God that falls on our streets to go out into the ocean in our urban areas. A ruler, in Sri Lanka, Parakma Bahu III if I am not mistaken, at one stage dictated that no water that fell on the ground should go into the ocean without first being used at least twice by the population. Secondly, some populations in their complaints will not look at the potential of recycling water to ensure a good supply. Even populations in parts of Africa and astronauts do that. This just shows us that we look at things from the point of view of scarcity rather than God's abundance.

Do we see abundance or scarcity?

Christ in his interactions at the well talks about abundance, not scarcity. God as we have just seen, with the stories of water, is an abundant God, we just have to steward that abundance in a manner that is beneficial to all. The disciples moan about Christ's interactions without seeing the abundance that is evident in God's presence as the whole community is brought into interaction with Christ. Christ saw the need and the underlying complaints, of derision and exclusionary practices, but was not panicked into full hardy grandiose shows of power. Rather he sets the seed into the fertile soil and allows the crop to come into harvest in God's time. In all our own interactions, wishes, wants and complaints we need to be mindful that God acts not in the way we want but in the way God wishes that will bring benefit to the whole of the community, men, women and children. We just have to see with eyes that are attuned to God's abundance rather than looking through eyes that are avaricious, greedy and lustful that see opportunity in scarcity.

In times of difficulty within our own lives we tend to see scarcity rather than abundance. In our inability to see the offerings of the Spirit we turn away seeking new sources of abundance rather than understanding that the arid conditions will yield a bountiful harvest in God's time when we work with God rather than for our own needs. The joys of the Spirit our around us even in the depths of despair.  God works with the abundant overflowing joy of God's grace. Once we turn around and see God's abundance will we come to see the abundance n our own communities. An abundance that is waiting to be harvested just like the run off from the rain. It may be that we are asked to see things from odd angles and different views. Ones perhaps that we do not want to engage with, re-cycled water, but will bring us into abundance once more.