Ma'en or amen

 It is not often that we are accepting of others within our midst. Unfortunately our innate wariness of things that are different prevent us from seeing the good in others. Often the attitudes of those around us in society are the attitudes that we portray to others. In the Gospel passage today even Christ appears to succumb to the attitudes of the day (Matt 15:23-26), most particularly the reference to "dogs" (Matt:15:26). Each community determines the boundaries that it is willing to accept within itself and those boundaries and prejudices are in built into the society in which we live. Generations of people have passed down their own understanding of who is in and who is out, which leads to our present day issues around the other who is different.

Matthew's Christ eventually comes to the inclusive understanding of community which we need to follow today. His thinking is not so much different from any in society and yet acknowledges that faith can be found outside the accepted boundaries that we the people have put in place. And yes it is we people. Irrespective of when, people have been responsible for the institution of our dogma and our own prejudices determine our reaction to those who are external to us. We can see this in recent movements such as Black lives matter and other movements throughout the world. Today the world is about a people who have been grafted one onto the other through the numerous interconnections that we all share. Paul was only concerned with those who were grafted on to a single root (Rom. 11:17), today we are considering multiple grafts on multiple roots. Our inter-connectedness in the world is greater now then it has ever been in the past.

Recognise the connection through the root stock that is God

Our predispositions to hatred and ostracisation need to be re-evaluated in light of our connections not only with other people but also with our environment. Joseph was sold into slavery and found a way forward but still held a dislike of his brothers which is played out in the story of his trickery and deception when they come to Egypt for relief. This is overcome not through his own immediate insight but rather as a result of his interaction with his brother, Judah. Like most of us Joseph needs proof of the brothers' credibility and honesty after his betrayal; can he trust these men who are his brothers? If he can then he can reveal himself and his connection to them and their family. Just prior to the passage that has been read today we hear Judah's impassioned speech, which for the midrash descriptions, is a re-description of himself which influences Joseph's understanding and thus eventual breakdown before the brothers. Joseph moves away from the need to seek proof towards an acceptance of who they are and their inter-connectedness with with each other. Prior to this he was unable to believe their words, not accepting (ma'en) as opposed to accepting (amen).

It is this moment of change that we need to achieve within us in our own interconnected world. It is an understanding that overcomes the awkwardness of our conditioned response to the other and an acceptance of our own inter-connectedness. We need to be able to say amen rather than our normal ma'en to those that surround us. Christ has a moment of denial before he too can admit the amen and need to establish God's community with those who are exterior to the community. It is only when we become one recognising that the divisions we uphold our of our own making, whether they are a result of selfishness or tribal preservation, are little more than tactics to preserve our individuality as opposed to our acceptance of God in the life of others. We do not have to control everything but rather we need to overcome our reluctance to accept God's presence even if we have no proof of God's presence. Our ideas of self have overcome our ideas of knowing even without grounds, so that we can say "Amen" to God in our lives. In doing so we overcome our reluctance to see beyond the graft and discover the root in others is their connectivity to God.

Imagining faith

  Reliance on our own understanding often leads to issues and challenges in our lives that are frequently beyond our ability to cope. In doing so we may interpret situations and form our own interpretive story that fits with our view. Through our interpretation we form an understanding of the world around us and its impact upon our lives. Joseph's story starts, for many sources, a long and convoluted interpretation not of Joseph but of Jacob and his whole family (Gen 37.1-ff). It is a story of the loss of connection with God leading to a re-imagining of familial and community connections over time. For those interpreting in this manner it is not a simple story of betrayal and remorse but one that sees the actors as caught within God's plot rather their own individual autonomous tale. In seeing this story from this perspective our own interpretive perspective is altered as we in turn look at the story of our lives and our community.

These interpretations point to our own lack of imagination when it comes to our faith and how we engage with our communities. We are in a similar boat to Jacob in that to a large extent we seem to have lost our connection to God as a community. Not just as a parish community but as a community in the much wider sense both nationally and internationally. Peter's attempt to walk on water demonstrates that failure of the imaginative process in our own faith journey (Matt. 14:28-29). Peter is called out of the boat onto the water by Christ but is almost immediately side tracked away from the impossibility by the mundane. There is a certain amount of imagination that is needed when we encompass our own faith journey. An imagination that suggests we can do anything beyond the normal that Christ / God calls us into overcoming the mundane that pulls us away from God.

Allow our faith to follow God's imagining

For most of us we are, like the brothers, unable to come to terms with the imaginative process so that we become caught up within the mundanity of our lives and concentrate solely on the ever increasing calls upon our time that is the world in which we live. Our response to the act of imagination that is the faith journey, is to hide it away in a hole or sell it of to become enslaved to situations that we are unable to comprehend or become involved in. The sleazy normality of the flux and flow of the ties that we have to the modern society prevents us from rising above the waves that overwhelm our lives. The very concept of retreating from the everyday into prayer or reflection or the imaginative process is abhorrent to modernity. The press of society around us is towards an evermore efficient lifestyle that is filled and, at the end of the day, exhausting of our life energy.

The retreat into the imagination to allow ourselves to take the step that enables our feet to walk upon the fluid surface of the water is an almost forgotten understanding. It s being retrieved into modern life by the more esoteric spiritual journeys of the Far East and alternative culture. The church appears to have lost itself within the fabric of modernity without realising that it has lost the imaginative process. This allows it to be divided by the self delusion that a reading of scripture is best interpreted by a literalist or someone embedded in a specific understanding and outlook. This dogmatic thinking is robust but static and does not allow for the breaking in of God's presence to lead us into the wonders that God's love brings to those who dedicate their lives in contemplation and reflection of that love. Our failure in our worship, in our lives and in our understanding of God's fluid and changing nature is re-lived in a lack of commitment to the belief that God can perform the imaginative miracle even while we shiver in the fear of overwhelming mundanity.

Lead from the front or from the rear

 I am not sure about you but when I make any major decision I struggle. I can spend a number of nights and days just coming to grips with the fact that a decision has to be made. In some respects I think we are all prone to this sort of struggle at least once in our lives. In a manner of speaking this is what is represented in the story of the night long wrestling match that results in the change of name from Jacob to Israel (Gen. 32:22-31). The decision from the various rabbinic sources is a decision with regards authenticity and authority rather than something more mundane. The change in name realises the change in Jacob's acceptance of who he is and his relationship to power and authority. This is not just a struggle that makes a decision but rather it is struggle that makes us change. In this understanding lies the challenge due to the fact that the result is a change to ourselves something that we fear that we will become injured and debilitated in the process.

Jacob sends his family and his household ahead of him across the river, like a good general he is leading from the rear by planning and trying to gauge the effects of his coming meeting with his brother. Also like any good leader he looks to rest from the distractions of leadership to have quiet time, like Christ (Matt. 14:13), to review the past and set up for the future. Yet, he is set upon and has to wrestle the night away. His wrestling is within himself, and is allegorically displayed by the "angel", perhaps Esau's guardian angel, as he struggles with his own doubts and fears of the life he is living and has lived. The decision to hold on to what has been or to move into a new life is a large one and is only made after we see the harm holding on does to us. The pain can become physically disabling not only for ourselves but also for the communities that we lead. Acceptance means that we begin to see ourselves in a new light and our ideas mature us towards the person that God wants us to be. In our own wrestling with our selves we begin to understand the needs of the people in the community around us. We place out needs behind us so that we can give to our community in such a manner that the gift becomes life giving. Where others may quail and step back we are able to step forward and find the solution that God has already prepared for us.

Leading from the front takes the pressure off but is a struggle

In many ways when we wrestle with our decisions we are wrestling with God as we are wrestling with a decision that will change our lives. If we are to grow in accordance with God's will then we struggle as our own thoughts and perceptions colour our decisions and deceive us away from what God would have us achieve. While we wrestle with God and our own way of doing things we will naturally change, even our names just as Jacob did. Even if we think we are not leaders or in positions of leadership we are indeed leaders as we portray God's way of love to the world and should be leading in this very thing. If we push people from behind, like Jacob, we will soon loose their interest and our own ability to lead them into new life. At some point we need to have courage to actually lead from the front with our convictions centred in God's presence. God inspired leadership takes us out of ourselves to see and lead with compassion from the front. The disciples come to Christ in a quandary about food even though Christ has been giving his all all day (Matt. 14:15). Instead of telling them to make the decision or moving of for quiet space, sympathy and compassion lead so that others may find comfort. In our own way we need to be able to do the same. We too often allow the attitude of Douglas Adams' SEP to come to the fore and not take the initiative. We often allow ourselves to make suggestions and let others do when often it is needful for us as Christ followers to lead our communities from the front. We then place God's love to the fore and become true disciples. This is where the struggle becomes part of our own being as we overcome and make things smoother for those behind.

Looking beyond the ephemeral

 We often overlook things in life especially when it is close to us. In finding out the excellence that has been hidden from us we quite often become total boors in our outlook much as the friends and family of Christ did when he preached in Nazareth (Matt. 13:53-58). Instead of praise we become jealous of that which has been hidden in plain sight but we have completely overlooked or assumed something that was different. This most often occurs within the family but is rife within our society and community. It can be seen in the way we react to difference and our assumptions as to what should and should not be present. The other side of the coin is as equally true in that those who are different often feel discouraged by the reception they receive from those who are assumed to know better. In this case the light is lost as a result of our own perception of unworthiness as we rely on the perceptions of others rather than on the perception of God's presence (Rom. 8:31-35).

In the love life of Jacob, we see how this playing out of perception actually works in the lives of people and because we are so often guided to see this story one way we miss the obvious undertones that are present (Gen. 29:15-28). We focus on the love of  Rachel and Jacob without paying much attention to Leah. Perhaps it is time for us to actually take a little more note of this hidden character because we have been taught to disregard this person, we know that she is there but she obviously has little bearing on the story as that is about how Jacob has been denied the love of his life Rachel. Do we really know any information other than the fact that she appears to be "dull eyed" (Gen. 29:17). How derogatory can we get? What does the story actually tell us of this person? Let us just imagine ourselves in her shoes for a few minutes. Here is a woman who has put aside any enmity she might feel for her beautiful sister despite being married to the same man. Here is a woman who actually bears the majority of Jacob's children and is obviously very much in love with him. We could almost say more so than Rachel as she does not appear to have any animosity towards her sister while the same cannot be said for Rachel's jealousy. Despite her looks she does more for Jacob then Rachel and is in some ways more honoured as in her death she is buried in the family plot while Rachel is buried on the road to Ephrath (Gen. 48.7).

Determining the value of anybody from what is seen is difficult without God's help

We are extremely quick when it comes to our relationships and how we see others. If things are not quite what we would like we are very quick to charge those that we do not get on with for bringing down the establishment. We often miss the jewels of God's love that works in all our hearts and minds because we judge only by what we think and not in prayer. Like Leah some people are just rough or rather have a demeanour about them that is problematic to our own way of thinking. They rub us up the wrong way because they either hold strong views as to the way things should be done or else they do things that we believe are wrong or disrespectful. The moment we set our eyes on others without seeing to the depths that God sees we lose sight of the gem that glows. This does not mean that every one is good, it just means we actually have to strive harder in love to see the good if it is obscured by our judgements. The merchant in the parable was able to see more than those around him to value the pearl. By selling everything he obtained the wisdom that the pearl represents. The question that this suggests is that can we see beyond our own prejudices and presumptions to see the pearls that are in those who we have rejected within the community in which we live? Just as Christ was rejected in his home town so we often reject those we have known within our own communities because we "know" them. The answer is that we do not truly know those in our own community until we have strived to be with them and walked beside them. We miss the pearls because "well everyone knows that (s)he is no good". Is that really the case or is it our imagination because we think or have been told it is the case? Are we able to put aside our past interactions and form a new relationship with those who are despised by others?

Immediate satisfaction or a long term solution?

 Christ tells us stories (Matt 13.24 ff) that come from an agricultural landscape that we are probably unfamiliar with in today's world of high tech and vicarious pleasure.  As with last week, it is story set in the seasonal growth of a agrarian growing period and not the fast paced www highways that extend around the world.  It is about looking towards a future that is down the long road and not immediate, it is about looking at our fast paced lives through the eyes of God.  The human agenda is strewn with details and minuscule events that in actuality turn out to be non-events in the bigger picture world that is the God story, the story of salvation.

We are sometimes pathetically upset by the long way round or we become fascinated by the view of time held by those who work the land.  We often fail to see the driving motivation resulting in an agitated state when the result is not immediate.  Not to be overwhelmed by traditional methods that take the slow way, we have moved this attitude of speed into our modern farming productive methods because we want to have immediate results.  A good example of this need for speed is found in the modern production of vinegar. Unfortunately, nature and God do not really work like that no matter how much we would like it to be.  Like God we need to start to look towards the future, it may not happen in this generation but if the seeds are correctly planted no matter what the vicissitudes of life there will be a harvest at the end.  We sometimes concern ourselves overly much, like the servants and the workers in the Matthew parable, with obtaining an immediate satisfactory perfection.  This can be applied to any situation within our spiritual as well as our mundane lives.  Yes, occasionally, there is a need to act with haste and immediacy but we need to remember that there is a consequence to every hasty action we take.

Can you tell the difference?  What is wheat in God's eyes and what is a tare?

The servants and stewards in the parable want to remove the weeds immediately but it is the sagacity of the owner who reminds them that in taking out one weed the probability of taking out good plants is high and therefore likely to reduce the final yield.  We want to focus on the irritants, we want to dive in and save the day with our programmes and our schemes.  Once again we forget that God is the one who is leading us along the path to redemption and salvation. We only have to look at our hasty actions of the past (reminding ourselves about the effectiveness of hindsight) when it comes to our goals in terms of the environment and our human sustainability.  We see the immediate benefits of something and jump in to utilise that for our benefit.  In this day and age it would have been thought that we would have learnt from the hastiness of the past and be more deliberate about how we take up new things.

Looking at our political decisions in recent years it is fairly obvious that greed is the motivating force behind many decisions and not the good of the world or for the long term benefit of humanity.  Even when we consider the benefits for a country we only consider the economic benefit in the short term not the long term.  We do the same thing within the church.  We look to solve the short term issue and not look at the long term issue.  Christ shows us God's view point in this parable, a viewpoint taken up by God in the vision that Jacob had on his journey (Gen. 28.10-19).  This is not a dream of the immediate goal but a dream of a long term vision.  A dream that takes Jacob into a blessed future but one that does not suggest that there will be no hardships.  In looking to the future whether politically, spiritually or in our everyday lives we need to hold to the dream not to overcoming the small irritants and details.  They have a way of working out but not the way we either expect or necessarily want in our own minds.  Yet, they will be what God wants.

Is the sower a professional?

 The old saying is that we reap what we sow in life. So what is it that you sow or have sown during your life? Looking back we often find that we have regrets somewhat like Esau, who sold his birthright (Gen 25.32-33), had later in life. Ours may not have been as great a foolishness but looking back it often rankles and hurts. Yet, sometimes what we perceive to be a disaster is what God is asking of us as he plants a seed to mature in the time to come. Retrospective looks back in time are said to be 100% and that is how we learn. Yet the ramifications from our regrets may actually be positive in the lives of others.

In the parable that Christ sets up in Matthew's gospel (13.1-), the sower does not appear to understand what it is that he is doing.  Seed appears to be scattered willy nilly all over the place.  Christ gives a very specific meaning to each type of ground the seed falls on, yet, I feel we are missing something if we take a simplistic view. Jewish midrash interprets the simple and finds some very interesting understandings as a result. They want to know the story behind what is written. Christ was a rabbi a known interpreter of scripture. Lets try thinking more laterally in this well known case.

The seed falls here and other times some falls there. Surely, one has to ask, when sowing for good yield shouldn't the sower be a little more deterministic when it comes to the scattering of the seed. If we want a good harvest we must direct the seed into good ground.  There is no point in scattering it around. I would have fired the sower, if it was my farm, I want a good yield not a bit of this and a bit of that (100% or nothing).  That is how we operate in today's world.  That is how any good farmer would want from his employer or himself if he was sowing the seed, care in deployment. No matter what we do, the expectation is that the out put of our work will be beneficial to the company for whom we work. I suspect in earlier times the same would also be the case especially with regards to the distribution of valuable seed. In looking at the church or the parish in terms of what we do, a recent trend has been to emphasise mission based programs.  We are told you have to do this, or you must do this or this is where you will achieve growth in the church, follow this evangelistic method / program / etc.

Let God direct the sowing of the seed not our own imaginations

God does not work with programs, God works with the world the way God wants the world to be.  God calls us into difference not sameness.  Each programme of evangelism that is promoted is looking for sameness not difference. God determines where the seed should fall, by placing all our seed into the one basket of programme evangelism we deny God access to the fruits of the seed.  Our evangelistic programme may well be scattering the seed on a well trodden path that does not allow for it to grow.  I suspect that more often than not, this is precisely what is happening; we continue to sow good seed onto the well trodden paths of human expectations only to find it trodden under foot.  It is only when we allow God to direct the sower of the seed that we begin to see the fruits of God's labour.  We talk of good and bad ground as if these were dualistic opposites.  Perhaps yesterday's poor ground will become today's good soil as God directs the seed and the growth.

Paul reckons us to live on the level of the Spirit not on the level of what has gone before (Rom 8.5-6) when we live in Christ.  Yet we tend to live in the world and ignore Christ except as a passing whisper or throw away line.  If something has achieved good results elsewhere then surely it will achieve remarkable results here in this place all it requires is the 'minister' to put in the energy.  Or if what has worked in the past should be re-iterated, again and again and again, then we will achieve the same results now as then. However, good soil soon becomes poor if we over produce again and again.  In undertaking these thoughts we also actually undermine God. We are second guessing where the seed that the farmer has granted to us through grace is to be planted by our knowledge not by the farmers understanding of the fields to be sown and then reaped. Only when we understand that it is by allowing God's hand in our work for God that we achieve the remarkable. It is not in following previous things or other programmes as these may not be what God is calling us to in the present. In living into the Spirit we live into Christ and we allow Christ's guiding light to be ever present in our hearts. We go where Christ wills not where we will.

Where has it gone?

Paul in a number of the epistles uses the terminology of the 'Body of Christ' to represent the Church. It has been a well accepted paradigm to reflect what the Christian church should emulate and more often than not we fail in this endeavour. In doing so we sort of shrug of the understanding and go on our way not really engaging with the spirit of the message or the purposeful meaning that Paul puts in the use of this analogy. It has become increasingly obvious that the Church has never really embraced this idea of the body and its understanding of cooperative purpose. Either across denominations or even within them as differences in dogma stymie the effort.

Indeed theological discussion whilst often referring to this understanding of community and neighbourliness  refuses to really engage as the modern philosophical trend has been towards the autonomous self. This very Western understanding of personhood is embedded in much of our traditional theological viewpoints so that we become mired in our individual uniqueness and miss the opportunity of seeing God in those around us. This is particularly brought home to those that tinker in the ecclesiological space when the structure of church governance is considered. Whilst Rome has come to tinker with an understanding of synodality as a result of Francis' push the Anglican church has been immersed in synodality for some time. Yet, the concept of travelling together has been lost over time in the Anglican church with its concentration on small empires whether they be op-shops, catering groups or individual parishes and councils.

In a lot of respects this lack of fostering the understanding of one body as seen in the various scriptural references of assistance and understanding is being highlighted in the Anglican church around the world with the GAFCON breakaway but also within the Australian Church. The very fact that it is reasonably well known that senior members of the clergy have been known to refuse to gather around the Christian table of fellowship and love is a clear indicator of the paucity of understanding in the concept of one body. This in itself is or should be unimaginable in the Christian faith journey but it becomes even more devastating when nobody  seems to understand the words that are prayed at the end of most Eucharistic services within the Anglican prayerbook. Each person prays to be a "living sacrifice" but as soon as they walk out the door they forget everything that faith teaches.

Are we one body or are we one building?

In a Diocese that is in dire straits in terms of not only claims arising out of the abuse scandals of recent years but also the result of National church failures to maintain promises in the late 1990s one would expect, from a Christian viewpoint, a certain amount of collegiality and coming together to steer through the winds of change. As we know change often means sacrifice and in Christian terms we would understand that through death comes life. Yet, it is obvious that however good leadership has been the concepts of togetherness and community mean nothing unless there is the stability of a building. It has been made very clear that the process with regard the debt means that property must be sold for the good of the body and should one property not be sold or forfeited than another property or properties must be found to compensate. Thus, our selfishness over the retention of one property could make another part of the body suffer, but then 'Hey its not us. Shame!'. Our treasures are meant to be in heaven not on earth yet we still focus our lives on our property. Perhaps, it comes from calling ourselves 'church' instead of an 'ecclesia'. 

The question is of course to be asked where is the National Church?  Or perhaps where is the greater body of Christ? Well not their problem as each diocese is an 'individual' not part of a community or the body of Christ. Of course, they are at liberty to state that the plan forward by the diocese some three years ago cannot take place but have to bow before the Supreme court when the same plan, in essence is put forward. This attitude of complacency and being the little finger on the body's right arm is especially so of the more affluent dioceses who not withstanding their riches on earth believe that they are the only ones who know God's word. Sounds a bit pharisaic to me.

To take up or not to take up

 We are told that we are to take up the yoke that Christ gives to us so that we may rest from the burdens that we carry (Matt. 11:29). This seems at first glance a somewhat paradoxical statement as the yoke, any yoke, implies some form of weight. If we are already overburdened how can taking more weight upon ourselves lead to rest. Perhaps we can see a glimmer of an answer in the story of Isaac and Rebecca's first meeting (Gen 24:58-67). In this section of the story Rebecca first sees Isaac in the field as she and the servant approach following the journey from her home. In this, as in similar Hebrew texts, the interpretation that we have is somewhat prosaic in comparison to the wealth of interpretation available in the Hebrew / Jewish interpretations. In this instance it is said firstly that Isaac was not just walking but rather there is a sense of his communing with God and perhaps recalling the akedah that was spoken about last week. In observing him Rebecca falls "in love" and falls to the ground in front of him because of the respect for his connection to God (much more romantic). It is however what comes after that needs our attention as in verse 67 Rebecca takes on the burden of Isaac's grief over his mother.

Rebecca is already burdened, if we think about it, with the re-location from a loving home into an unknown circumstance. She has given much up for the possibility of happiness with an totally unknown man and in a totally unknown culture. Yet, she willingly picks up the burden of grief that Isaac is suffering from and consoles him. This leads to what appears to be  a comfortable life or at least as comfortable as things can be within the harshness of nomadicity. Rebecca here makes a knowing sacrifice in love and lightens the burden not only upon herself as she becomes accepted within the new community but also that carried by another. This is perhaps what we need to understand when we are asked to carry the load. It is not that our concerns or worries are disappeared but rather by picking up the load we share our toils and our burdens with each other. In carrying our own burdens we actually destroy our lives both physical and mental. It has recently been brought home to me how anxiety and worry are easily manifested within the physical to such an extent that it incapacitates our own ability to function. If we decide to carry our own tears and our own anxieties then we will suffer greatly. It is often our response of not sharing that leads us to the physical dependence and pain we suffer in later years.

The yoke shares the burden or lightens the load

So how can we take the extra load and be relieved of the burden we carry so that the load becomes light? The main issue is not that we do not care but rather that our needs always predominate. The taking up of another load appears to be us to be something that is deleterious to our own health. In this case we are cautious if not downright over protective and selfish. We have to take real care here because selfishness leads us to act in such a manner that is overwhelmingly problematic for our community. Once we take this route we are on the mind bending logic that Paul uses to account for his ability not to do that which ought to be undertaken (Rom. 7.14-ff). The reality is that we need to take up the yoke that God calls us to take for this eases the burden not necessarily for us immediately but certainly in the long term. The reason for this is that the old adage " a problem shared is a problem halved" is so true even in the current day. In sharing the burdens of the community we are able to half the real issues that we think that we have to carry on our own. So often we have and start with good intentions that eventually become burdens usually because of our inability to share. 

Just think in terms of Parish councils or centre committees or any other sort of governance model that you wish to think of. The council / committee is often there to assist and share the burden of leadership. what so often happens is that it comes down to an issue of power and politics. The more power I have the less I wish to share and once I have power the less I wish to give that power up. The yoke that Christ asks us to pick up is so light because it is a shared responsibility. We do not take the burden on ourselves but share the burden with the other. Just as Rebecca learns to do and does with the burden of sorrow within the family. Only when we are ready for this sharing can we begin to understand how light God's burden is upon us as all of our brothers and sisters are able to share the burden with us.

To be a willing living sacrifice

 We pray at the end of our Eucharistic services for God to send us out as a "living sacrifice" into the world. I wonder what you think a sacrifice is in your life. We can think of anything that may be a sacrifice but most of us think of something that would in reality only inconvenience ourselves. To make a sacrifice is to make sacred that which you do. Quite often it may mean a giving up of something or at least entail some sort of real hardship for and in our lives. However, I suspect that it would not be as great a sacrifice that Abraham was preparing to make (Gen. 22.1-14), although in some circumstances it may entail an equal amount of heartache. Looking at the Jewish sources of interpretation of this passage, the Akedah test, (and there are many) there is a suggestion of inner paradox being played out (see Zornberg for example). How much do we give to God and how much do we give to ourselves? We often want to protect what we give rather than give to God as a sacrifice. We do not actually sacrifice but rather appease our own sense of worth in what we do.

We are often eager to complain about the sacrifices that we do make when looked at on a greater scale. The sacrifice we brag about is nothing more than an inconvenience in our lives. Abraham walked in the way of God, much as Christ did in a later age, and in doing so he is portrayed as the Father of the faith, not only Jewish but also ultimately the Christian faith. Yet, looking at the Jewish sources of interpretation there is an interesting back story to this passage. The possibility is that in walking in the steps of God and celebrating  God's presence while spreading the "good news" of God's presence in his life he neglected the simplicity of sacrifice after his son was born. He gave his all towards being a father and relinquished his giving of all to God. It is this that requires God to test Abraham. This is a dimension of Abraham's journey both inwardly and outwardly as he celebrates the presence of his son. Does the mere movement towards family suggest that ultimately we are moving away from God and forgetting to live up to God's requirement to sacrifice? Perhaps, this is where we are living in the current age. We do not see the purpose of "sacrificing" our time in praise and thanksgiving to God when we have family and lives to live. The modern turn allows us time for those things that encourage our happiness which in turns allows us to turn a blind eye to the injustices of the world. This extends to the term of "sacrificial" giving and other "sacrificial" things we do. The modern state has allowed us to sit back and relax in terms of our own personal sacrifices, which in turn has allowed us to sit back and relax in terms of the requirements of God.

We forget the sacrifice and continue to ignore the purpose.

In this we are often governed by a Law of Tradition. The reasoning goes somewhat like this, "We have always ... and that is the way we will continue to do ...". You can fill in the spaces with whatsoever you like that covers any form of sacrifice. Unless we hear otherwise tradition is tantamount to having come from God. We can always find an excuse for not doing what sacrifice asks us to do and this is always easier than actually making the committed sacrifice. In this Paul has it right in Romans (6: 12-13) if we are to label ourselves as followers of Christ. Christ sacrificed himself for us and we are obligated by faith to do likewise as we follow in God's way of love. All love demands sacrifice to a greater degree than we allow. Any family knows that in order for the family to grow certain things have to be let go, we term this a sacrifice but often it is no more than disallowing certain luxuries. However, on occasion it is a large sacrifice of everything that is normal for the household. In coming to terms with the enormity of the sacrifice we come to understand the harsh reality of sacrifice and can no longer consider the simple things we give up as a sacrifice. If we begin to really understand what it means to sacrifice in a simple thing like family, can we who dwell in Christ and accept the hospitality of Christ, not sacrifice for God. It is easy to say that we will become a living sacrifice at the end of each service in which we receive the hospitality of God at the communion table, a reminder of a greater sacrifice then we are able to give, but not so easily translated into our common Christian life. This is applicable to all of us not just a few. A real sacrifice means something that is more than uncomfortable or prosaic, it means that it will hurt us and we do not want to let that happen in our comfortable lives and thus we turn from God.

Growth implies change

 No matter how we look at the world around us there are a couple of certainties other than death and taxes. The most prominent one is the prospect of change in our comfortable spaces. No matter who we are the very thought of change makes us shiver and become somewhat afraid. It does not matter whether the change is one that is sponsored by ourselves, such as a change in direction, home, living arrangement, career, etc or comes to us from an outside source COVID 19, restructure of work environment, new laws, etc. The very mention of the word creates division and this was understood by Christ as he spoke of the future to his disciples (Matt. 10.34-39). As Christians who have died to Christ (Rom 6.3-5) we must expect significant change in our lives, not only when we accept Christ but also when we continue with Christ in our lives.

In speaking about change we seem to accept the enormous change that Christ brings because we have died but wish to negate that change when it effects our more mundane lives. It is as if we believe that what ever spiritual or faith change is undertaken our secular and normal lives must remain unaffected. This is clearly not the answer as the Gospel passage indicates. Christ lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that the traditional place of comfort, the family, cannot remain the same when we take up the cross and follow Christ. If our safe place, our traditional place of comfort and security is no longer a safe haven to retreat to then how can we expect the world to be a safe place amidst change. The disruption that has occurred to our lives and the changes that must happen as we move forward into the unknown future must for us become a force that allows us to increase our resilience in the face of the inconsequential upheavals that we face on a daily basis. Just think of the changes in the life of Hagar and Ishmael faced in the wilderness when cast out by Abraham at the behest of Sarah (Gen. 21:14-21). The indication here is that no matter how cast out from our family we are God has a greater purpose that shows us a path along which we must strive.

We change our diet as we mature otherwise we do not grow

Any young person faces the challenges of change in the  formative years of their adulthood. In leaving home they must strive to find their place in an ever changing society and yes sometimes the challenges in this process of change are significant. At other times we shelter them from the raw experiences of life so that they can find safety in the bosom of their family but... It is a big but for even the family cannot shelter us in the long term. Just as we cannot expect in naivety that what we have always experienced will always remain the same. Christ calls us deliberately into something that changes leading us away from our comforts so that we too can change our own way of thinking to bring the Good news into those areas which are not ministered to as a result of our neglect. We often have to find a new way to express ourselves, away from that which is comfortable, how else can we spread God's love if we do not enter into new places. Remaining within the comfort of what we know and understand places us into the sheltered space. Yes, occasionally we have to place ourselves in that space but we cannot remain there or we will stagnate and die. A pond that does not refresh itself with a stream of water is likely to stagnate and die. If a herd of animals remained in one place they would stagnate and starve. We will not get the same ongoing sustenance if we remain in one way of thought and it is quite often the case that we also stagnate and die.

Even when we want to be fed we automatically want what we have had before or what we believe is life sustaining for ourselves. Once again we fall into a trap because if we are to grow we need to seek out new richness in the food that is provided. Like a child or a baby we require so much more than our initial serving. Baby food cannot sustain our growth into adulthood and so the diet is changed: can we expect any less with our faith journey? Christ calls us to grow into God's presence and life this is not something that can be done if we only have the food that sustained the beginning of growth. Any farmer knows that crops have to be nourished and as they grow they get different feed. This automatically means change, something we need not be afraid of or hostile to but rather open and encouraging so that we can get a fresh vision of God's path.

The education of charism

 Sometimes we think we can do it all.  I can undertake all the ministries in the Church and in the world.  All I have to do is put my hand up and I will be there. If we are excited to participate we jump all over the place and try and put our hands on the wheel, so to speak, in as many different places as we can. What happens is that we get ourselves mixed up and eventually cause a disaster as we tangle everyone else up. Christ sends his disciples out in a deliberate and calculated manner (Matt. (9.35-10.8 ff) having understood what was required.

At baptism we pray that the child / adult will be filled with the charisms of the Holy Spirit. If it is a child, I do not think that we expect him/her to jump up and speak in tongues immediately. These gifts take time to develop and come to maturity just as the child grows. The same is true for an adult, occasionally the gift manifests itself immediately but often there is a period of maturing and discerning before the full gift is manifest in the life of the individual. There are times when we need to set time aside and pray about our situation before undertaking a course of action. This is of course quite easy for a child as it has its parents and God parents to guide it in its first tentative steps towards making a decision in faith. But what of an adult, as we can be extremely impulsive especially when it comes to our likes and dislikes, our comforts and our intrusions, our future and our past. We have a tendency to see where others are not stepping up and feel that we need to fill the gap.  At the end of the day we become rag and bones because we are not doing what God wants us to do but what we want to do.

Only in listening and in harmony with God do we grow

There are a number of questions that we need to ask ourselves as we grow into our charisms and as we educate our children towards the next step in faith that they need to take. In asking these questions of ourselves we take a step back and allow God's Spirit to interact with us through prayer, contemplation and the discernment of others. We need to ask, Is this truly what God is calling me to and how am I to know that this is God's call on my life? In answering these or encouraging our children to answer these questions we actually have to do some work. It is not a question of "Oh this is what I think I want to do"  which is typical of children taking their first steps towards adulthood. It actually means that we have to sit down and discern where God is calling me. How? By listening to what others are saying and reflecting on our decisions, in relation to the choices that we are making. By spending quiet time with God and allowing God to speak (we so often speak and don't actually listen to God). By allowing God's Spirit to call to you in the quiet moments of your life. Only through such a process do we discern a true call into ministry.

We allow our children room to discover these options of listening through their lives if we are being true to our baptismal call. We go out of our way to encourage others to rightly discern the paths of God's Spirit in their lives through encouragement and listening. We are present to the other as sounding boards so that we discern with the community the charisms of our neighbours and our fellow sojourners in Christ. It will be Christ who leads us as he becomes manifest in our lives and as we are encouraged in the path of discernment for ourselves. Only when we recognise the Christ that is indwelling in our own selves will we understand the gifts of the Spirit and how we release them into the community. It is only when the gifts begin to help the other and encourage those who are lost that we can know that the Charisms of the Spirit are invigorating the community.

The rhizomic nature of faith

 We are as a Diocese and as a faith community being called out of our comfortable lives into something new. Abram in the Genesis story (Gen. 12.1-9) is called by God into a journey to a new place. It is not a comfortable call as it means that his current life and understanding will be shattered by answering this call. Family and friends will be left behind as he goes on a journey that is not only a discovery of self but also a discovery of faith. We too are asked to make that break with custom and comfort to move into a new place. Any immigrant or person who comes to a new land will tell you that there is a psychological displacement as well as a displacement in ones body and soul. The familiar turns into the unfamiliar or to put it simply robots turn into traffic lights and circles into roundabouts.

In turning to the offer of new life we are turning towards a step in faith not in legal understanding. The law of the Anglican polity would strangle us and make us bend to tradition. God however offers us the grace to develop according to his requirements not according to a law that creates anger and frustration (Rom. 4.15). We can see the effect of this in our current circumstances as the changes required frustrate the understanding of diocesan independence that is the tradition of Anglican politics and synodial bickering. The call to change is a call that reverts our understanding of church from a model of stasis to a model of growth. Relationships tend to grow in an organic manner as can be seen if we look at the e life found in social media. God's presence is a relational presence as we saw last week and is grown through new interactions in new spaces. Like any rhizomous plant that has inadequate room to expand will stagnate and not produce new growth so we as a rhizomous community stagnates within the concrete walls that we have created around us.

Can we become a rhizomic culture popping up in unexpected places?

 Christ calls not the righteous but the sinner in the first part of the gospel reading (Matt. 9.9-13). The expectation from those in the faith community was to call those who were righteous, aka the leaders of the synagogues and temple because surely this is where God is looking. In turning the expectations around Christ recognises that faith and growth is found in the corners and edges of formed community. The vibrancy of faith that can overwhelm all things, as expressed in the latter part of the reading (Matt. 9.18-26), is found outside the expectations of tradition and formal opinion. The early Christian community was a community that was on the edge of society and the predominant faith groups. The explosive growth of the Christian faith was borne out of the fringe before becoming the central edifice that it became. It is clear that it is to a certain extent losing that central position as its leadership, with few exceptions, no longer speak into the public sphere for fear of doing something that is against tradition and the 'faith'. Yet, Christ sets our example not tradition and Christ ministered on the margins of society. Surely it is then incumbent on us to follow Christ into the margins to find the Spirit that drives us towards God's central community of love. No longer should we hold to a vision that is crumbling in a modern society that is changing rapidly. Our vision must be one that God calls us to that elevates our journey to show how in an ever changing world the priority of love is a consistent state of being to draw us towards the sanctity of peace and the grace that God gives to us in love.

Easy or hard worship?

 At this time of year our thoughts move in the direction of God, if they are not already there.  Once a year we celebrate and worship the Trinity, I believe the rest of the year we celebrate and worship...well perhaps God the father or Jesus God the Son (probably more often than not) and rarely God the Holy Spirit, once a year on Pentecost.  During most of the year, we have in one way or the other seem to have forgotten that God is three in one which is the real difficulty that other monotheist religions have with Christianity.  How can we say that we worship one God but have three who are one?  A definite paradox that we all struggle with at some point in time.

The presentation of this paradox has been enunciated by the various early councils of the Church as they struggled to define the reality of faith in which they lived and is the basis upon which we formulate our understanding of the Trinity.  The challenge for us today is that we hardly understand the meaning and thought processes that went to formulate what we know as the doctrine of the Trinity. The result is that we focus our attention on specifics that we can understand rather than the whole that we cannot understand.  In this way we may focus our lives on an understanding of Jesus as being the Son of God or Christ.  We celebrate this in the incarnation and the story of the Resurrection. Or else we celebrate the Spirit and turn our attention to the spiritual gifts as given in scripture. We concern ourselves with the fact that we are speaking in tongues or are evangelists and if we are not then we are not 'true' Christians. In using our limited expectations in this manner we are able to cope but forget that we are sent out to make disciples and then to baptise in the name of the "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28.19).  One way or another we will focus our proclamation on one of the three and not all three; we will make disciples who follow one of the three not all three; we will teach about one of the three not all three.  How can we do it any other way when we do not understand it in the first place?

The Trinity what is it and who is it? (James Keav-Bright (Welsh, 1965-), Trinity Redemption, 2013)

Let us take a very straightforward and simple issue. My question is: What is One? Just think for a minute within the sphere of mathematics. Yes, I am aware that most people do not like thinking mathematically. One is a very unusual number as it is fully dependent on the understanding of its relation to and distinct from all other numbers. Let's put it another way one can only be as a result of a relationship with the other. It does not matter how you explain it the very fact that you have one means that there must be an other. In the case of Christian faith we suggest that the one can only be as a result of relationship, which we describe for the sake of description, as being Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28.19b). I say for the sake of description because we cannot fully describe G*d and our best analogy formulated at the early councils of the Church is this analogy. Yet, in this day and age we have to be ever mindful that the formulation to describe G*d in this manner is time dependent. What do I mean by this. Well, whilst we have all grown up and familiar with the analogy it is one that is governed by the discussions of people who only knew Greek philosophy thrown in to a Middle Eastern world view to describe something that is unfathomable. The question raised here is can we with modern philosophy and a modern world view describe the unfathomable in any better way and have we tried or are we sufficiently complacent to rest on our ancestors thoughts on the matter? This actually means that we have to set aside our previous thinking and start from the beginning. Now, that is a tough challenge.

The wisdom of the world, which is found within the indigenous peoples of the world, is the knowledge of our own interconnectedness.  This knowledge was demonstrated by the early Christians and was part of their faith journey as they tried to express this appreciation of G*d.  An interconnectedness that is encapsulated by the discussions and debates that led to the promulgation of the doctrine of the Trinity.  We in the modern secular world have lost, or rather suppressed, the ability to understand this wisdom.  Perhaps, it is because we are moving to fast and have lost our ability to slow down.  Indigenous peoples know this and try to gift it to us within the slow movement of nature to which they are attuned. This has perhaps led to an extensive enantiodromia that has seen a rising mental health crisis within our secular nations. The Trinitarian formulation has, I believe, resulted in an ever increasing divide within the faith community as we each affiliate ourselves closely with one part of the whole (either the Father, or the Son or the Spirit) without claiming the wholeness of G*d that is the underlying foundation of the Trinitarian formulation.  A foundation that is interconnected and not divided, that is a whole and not the sum of its parts. An understanding that has been lost as a result of our own paucity of explanation and understanding as well as our focus on the individual rather than on our interconnectedness that nowadays spans the globe. In glorifying one of the Trinity we tend to idolise that one conception and forget that there is more to G*d.  Until we can get around the idea that G*d is in all; a much greater G*d than we can conceive of, then we will continue to reduce our faith to an ember.  Rather we should allow G*d's wisdom to so infuse our being with wholeness so that we shine as a Christ light in the world.

Communication in a world of Babel

 Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21), in more ways than one, initiates a period of change for the Church. In particular it begins the transformation of a group of people cowering away from the rest of the community in doubt, fear and insecurity (Jn 20:19-23) into an autonomous movement within the Jewish faith system that would eventually evolve into its own established faith group. We often concentrate on the wonders of the Spirit's presence and the movement out into the world with little consideration with regards how this was managed. The Spirit incited a change in behaviour of the disciples to such an extent that they appeared to many as if they were drunkards in the early hours of the day. A change that eventually went on to challenge existing forms of faith and the way people acted within the community. Unfortunately, even in the modern day these changes are so extraordinary that they are both overlooked and looked down upon as not being part of the modern psyche. The journey of faith is based on the premise of change in one's life and behaviour which is then communicated to those around us in the community.

To change oneself so drastically and then to be able to communicate that change to the community around you is both profound and prosaic. It is profound in the sense that it is a deep ability granted by the Spirit to engage in a manner that is both acceptable and engaging to those who have not been affected by the Spirit. It is prosaic because it involves the use of our own skills and abilities to communicate in an everyday manner without clouding the reception of the message being given with intangible meaningless thoughts. Just think about how this played out in the ecstatic moments in the early hours of the day in Jerusalem when everyone heard the message of redemption and peace in a language that they understood despite being from different parts of the world. Place oneself within a place where there is a number of different languages being spoken and you can quickly become disconnected or you sharpen your focus to those conversations / words that are being spoken in a language that you understand.  In South Africa, worship services within the Anglican church can become very confusing if you are not paying attention as anything up to 11 languages can and will be used within the one worship service.  You may find yourself next to a person praying the Lords prayer in Zulu on one side and Setswana on the other while you are trying to pray in English.  Each person hears their own language and responds within that language.  The true gift that is given here at Pentecost is the gift of communication.  The ability to transmit the Christian message within the confines of another's cultural and language norms.  If we want to do this in the normal fashion we have to spend hours, months and days just trying to fathom the internal structure and grammar of the language.  It is the one thing that we are often poor at giving praise for especially to those who have a facility for language. We often do not even think or operate on the fact that this is a gift from God which needs to be truly praised.

The Spirit blazes in our hearts changing our lives

In the normal course of events our words and our idioms lose a portion of our thought as they go through the process of translation. The other language / culture colonises ours in ways that may lead to the misunderstanding of our intent.  In the same way our content is not only conveyed in language but also in tone and in the physicality of gestures and body positioning.  Again in different language and cultures proponents will tell you how different gestures mean different things.  Each of us reads these arcane signs so that they have meaning for us but that meaning may be as diverse as our very lives and our cultural upbringing.  No wonder it appears to be a babble of noise that leads to misunderstanding in the world especially for those who do not belong to the faith community as we speak of love and act in a manner that interprets love differently for each one.  In order to be clear and ensure our message is not misinterpreted by the translation how are we to deliver the message that we need to communicate?

The disciples all spoke and yet the same message was delivered.  The intent was the same for all of them.  They came out of the same place and were embedded within the same reality.  We nowadays do not.  We need to go back to basics we need to be reminded of the message as we turn to Christ and remind ourselves the "I am the way, the truth and the life." (Jn. 14.6).  This is the message that needs to be mirrored in our totality as it was in the disciples.  The act of communication was communicated in terms of their lives.  They acted, spoke and lived in Christ and God.  Their communication was complete as all heard and believed.  They heard intellectually, they heard physically and they heard their faith.  This is how the message becomes realised and is communicated to those around us.  It is only when we act physically in concert with living and speaking the Gospel will we be able to communicate the Gospel message.  This is when the Spirit grabs us, this is when there is growth and renewal, this is when we energise and worship; forgetting ourselves, our needs, our wants.

Left to grow

The direction that we take in the world as Christians is the direction towards living as Christ in a world that is made somewhat complex by a society that no longer believes in things that are connected to the Spirit. One can at best state that the world has very little recognition of what we would deem to be of faith or involved in something that can no longer be measured by the instruments of the day in scientific rigor. In coming to the things that are written in Scripture we have to sometimes open ourselves up to that side, sorely neglected in this modern world, called the spiritual or the non-scientific. It is in such a world that artists and authors delve in some form or another understanding that at heart there is a fullness to our lives that can be found only in the imaginative and spiritual process that is regularly shunned. This is particularly so when we only seek understanding along lines that are said to be 'true' as far as a particular group / denomination / faction state. So what should we take home from such efforts to display something that is over and above that which we consider to be the norm for today's world.

I think that we need to firstly remind ourselves that whatever we understand from the Scriptures that we read they are understood only within our own spiritual life and journey, which is ours to tread and should not be dictated to by others. This does not negate our coming together in community as people who worship and survive together. In stating this it is my belief that the Christian journey is filled with signposts that point towards a way of life which leads to the fulfilment of the Christian story in Christ's Ascension and coming again. One of those signs is the Ascension itself which we must understand within our hearts through the lived life that Christ enables. That life is shown to us by Christ's promise and direction (Matt 28:19-20) to live the commandments and to continue to promulgate this through the making of 'disciples' who will follow the way. We are entrusted as the disciples were with the ongoing demonstration of the commandments given to us.

Seeds leave the mother plant to grow on their own as Christ leaves his disciples to grow on their own

Secondly, it is up to us to follow the path that has been created by Christ's journey on earth that leads to his Ascension. It is not up to others per se although they can guide and coach those that they are encouraging to become disciples. In doing this they fulfil the direction given to all disciples to bring others into the Christian journey. In a manner of speaking the Ascension can be considered to be the precise thing that the disciples required for the new way to become what it is today. Just imagine what life would have been like if Christ had hung around. Just as any person going to university must at some stage graduate so to do those who are apprentices or people learning their profession and calling within the work place. We must leave the teaching behind us and build upon what has been taught in our lives. Sometimes we grow differently and explore difference to bring change but so long as our basics are remembered and adhered to we to will move and live in love. So to the disciples have been shown constantly, and like all of us often getting it wrong, but must do so now without supervision. They must live out that which they have been taught and take on apprentices for themselves so that they can teach others how to live.

No teacher and no master expects their student or apprentice to remain under supervision but rather to take their knowledge out into the world and bring it to others. Indeed, some apprentices go on to become masters in their own manner. However, we need to remind ourselves that the teachings of Christ / God are indeed the only teachings that are important. Those teachings point us even today towards the correct way of living that the Ascended Christ showed us in his life and expects of us as faithful disciples of his way. That way is a lived way and not one that is one of law and interpretation. It is the small things in life that lead us to love more than the larger. Christ's Ascension looms large for us but it is in the reality of his leaving that the seed he set within the disciples that was given free reign to burgeon into new growth that followed his way of living in love that changed the world. In remembering his departure and leaving his disciples for them to find their own path along the way of love we ourselves must also follow

Advocating for love

 Christ's ultimate command to his disciples is to "love" and we as his followers are bound to that commandment. In John's gospel, Christ also is clear in indicating that he will provide his disciples with an advocate (Jn 14.15-17) who is the Spirit of Truth. We need to understand what is meant in the provision of an advocate or paraclete. In modern terminology we often associate this with a lawyer but in reality an advocate is one who speaks for us or defends us and I often think that when we speak of an advocate in connection with this passage we think of it as a person who supports rather than speaks. If we are to realise this meaning in the word, I think, we need to re-look at the message that is being given to us.

Whilst an advocate will support us the main role is in fact to speak or assist us to speak out into the world. If we look at Paul's speaking to the Athenian leaders in the Aeropagus (Acts 17.22-31) we see an opportunity that he utilises to bring the message of the risen Christ into the midst of the the political leadership of the Athenians. In the end it is the Spirit that enables him to speak to these erudite men. The Spirit advocates; he does not save him but speaks through him. The ideas that he uses to convey the message of Christ arise out of his observations which challenges us to understand that the Spirit enables us to see the truth. The courage to follow Christ is enabled (advocated for) but we must put in the hard yards to allow that to come to fruition. The thing we often forget is that it is the Spirit of Truth who is our advocate and perhaps this is the most important aspect we forget. For many of us truth is malleable and conforms to what we want, much as it does in the Acts reading for those listening to Paul. There are two things here that we need to take cognisance of  1) that it was Paul who was enabled to put his observations to the benefit of opening the eyes of some to the presence of God and 2) it was the Spirit of Truth that spoke into the situation through Paul.

Truth is not interpretation nor is it literal but it is what we do in love

If we cannot live the truth and speak the truth then we will not be enabled. So often we live what we want not what God wants in our lives. The truth is in the commandment to love not in our interpretation of that commandment. 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 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.

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 our honesty that bears witness to Christ and it is our honest living that enables us to be bearers of Christ's light. If we bear the honesty in our lives then Christ is ever present to us and the advocate  that is the Spirit of Truth bears witness for us.

The way, the truth and the life

 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.

Good shepherd or thieves of the flock

 The image of the good shepherd has been instilled into our psyches since the early church. There is  nothing wrong with this focus and in some respects it needs to be retained, John's images of the good shepherd are found in chapter 10 which starts with the initial images from which we draw the idea of the sheepfold, the walls, the gate and the shepherd who lays down his life. Just, as perhaps we need to, we focus on the imagery and place Christ as is intended in the metaphors at the centre. In doing this we actually take our eyes away from why the good shepherd is there in the first place. Yes, we must trust the good shepherd, yes we must listen to the shepherds voice all of the good that is there we need to understand and note. Yet, I feel we see only half the metaphor and pay little if any attention to the rest. Why is the good shepherd there in the first place? Do we as owners of our own land and stock not make note of the thieves that are around or do we go out forgetting that they are around trusting that our locks and gates and pens are secure? We are only human, we forget, we do not always obey the dictates of good sense and acknowledge the good shepherd's work and we are lax in our own ways. Animals have an instinct for the wrongness that evil brings and trust in rightness of the good, we need to see both.

We have allowed our own avarice to lead us into the hands of thieves

We always associate ourselves with the sheep, highly intelligent who know where to look for good pasture and can lie down when there is a shepherd but what happens if we are lax, sheep tend to wander and despite calls to come back. In doing so perhaps we morph into a shepherd as we care for our families and communities, but are we good? The issue here is not the good stuff but the fact that in our current lives we have allowed ourselves to wander and in doing so make it harder for the strictures of safety and well being to be observed as we struggle with life. The shepherding of our lives according to our thoughts and our own efforts open the way for the thieves and the corrupt to enter into our society disguised as part of our own 'flocks'. We forget that adherence to community and love protect us from those things that create discord and hatred. We allow ourselves to be gulled into a false sense of security through our own wishes rather than through our fulfilment of Christ's presence in our lives.

We have filled ourselves with malice, deceit and hypocrisy (1 Peter 2.1-3) and in doing so we allow those that lead to become not as shepherds but often as thieves of our lives. If we look at the way we live we can see that we are burdened while others are not, those that are not often (not always) care only for themselves and not for the community. This is not something spiritual but reality in a cold world which thrives on our greed and our mistakes. We need to look only at the governments of the world to see that it is the interests of the few that are at the heart of their governing and not of the whole. We need only look at how we determine those that govern to see that what we as a community thinks is over ridden by the whims of whatever "party" is in place. At the end of the day we have allowed the thieves to come in, yes, partly from not heeding the voice of God but also from not heeding what we are told about community, about love, about compassion. 

The last few verses of Act 2 tell of a different community that was just forming, a community that looked out for those who could not look out for themselves. It is clear that it was not blind adherence to Jewish laws that made the community what it was, it was not blind obedience to rules and regulations it was an understanding of how a community operates to support each other from least to greatest. It is putting aside our needs for the sake of those not as fortunate. It is not communist, where some are more equal then others, for this is the trap that sinks us into the grip of thieves who take our lives. We care for each other within the flock with love and are guided, not led, guided through our life by the words of the shepherd. Perhaps it is time for us to perceive the thieves that surround our lives and find the guidance and voice of the shepherd who is God so that we can find together the pastures that are peaceful and open to all. A  video posted back in 2020 with regards the COVID pandemic perhaps explains this in poetical form as we step into a new future.

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.