Stranger danger

In looking at ourselves as communities of faith, we believe that we are welcoming to the other.  If we were to look at ourselves from a totally different perspective, i.e. a Muslim woman, would we feel the same?  In looking at ourselves we perceive what we wish to see and sometimes we are blind to how we actually react to difference.  The same applies to any community to which we belong, if we perceive a threat in a person from outside, no matter what that threat may be, we often turn ourselves away.  We defend what we perceive to be our community.  In times when this occurs we need to turn to scripture to see how to manage as people of faith.  Paul is very firm in his first letter to the Corinthians (9.16-23) as he states that he ministers as if he were from the group.  For Christ it is a case on ministering to everyone irrespective in the same loving manner but taking an opportunity to withdraw (Mk 1.21-31).

Is either better. No.  It is a case here of what works best for our own communities.  Sometimes we need to set up and manage our ministry as Paul did.  That means that we have to be sufficiently open with ourselves and with others about who we are.  It means that we have to draw along side the other and find out who they are.  It means allowing the other into our lives as the other moves into ours.  In becoming as the other we are able to bring God's presence into their lives.  How?  By living as Christ within their midst as one of those whom we class as other.  This is incarnational ministry, a ministry that we need to practice in today's society so that those who are other can come to understand the message of Christ.  We mirror Christ's presence and live in his light whilst being ourselves and living as the other.  Only when we are totally accepted for who we are can we even start to minister as Christ.  This means that we need to be fully aware of ourselves as messengers of Christ. We can not come alongside someone who we detest in our thoughts and hearts.  Our pre-judgement of their lives will be lived out in our actions.  We will become rejected and move away from the opportunity God gave to us.  If we approach and come alongside with the love of God for all people we will be able to minister to those who are different by understanding their difficulties rather than apportioning blame, prejudice and hatred.

Do we offer the water of life or water poisoned by our own needs?

We have difficulty with incarnational ministry because it exposes our thoughts to those around us.  If we are quick to reveal our own prejudices then we are unable to come close to the other.  We then attempt to be as Christ to the multitude.  In this we also fail.  Why?  In our attempts to reach the many we open the community to outsiders and then complain when new changes appear in our midst. Or else we make the attempt on a superficial level and proclaim that we are doing so well.  In reality we are providing no more than a social service without the deeper and profounder interaction that Christ has with his people.  Christ heals those that come to him in our attempts we so often poison the wells of love with the corruption of our desire.  We form our own little kingdoms within which we rule to the detriment of all those who would stand by our side.  It takes time and effort to become as Christ to those around us and to those we serve.  That sometimes means that we retreat from the world but it does not mean that we give up.  Rather it is often time to move on to offer our gifts and the Christ light within us to others.  We cannot despair when this occurs but rather sing in joyous praise for the work of Christ in the lives of those around us.

How we bias others thinking

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians gets annoyed at those who use their knowledge to act in a manner that appears detrimental to others (1 Cor. 8.1-13).  Not everyone is capable of taking in large amounts of knowledge and assimilating it into everyday lives.  This means that we have to be careful in our use of knowledge, especially when it comes to faith, so that we do not say one thing and appear to do the opposite.  Occasionally we may also use our knowledge to manipulate how others think and so generate division within our own faith groups.  This is the way of dictators and those who wish to have power or control over a situation.

In living the Jewish faith and being close to God, Christ is recognised for his knowledge and questions are raised as to whether this is a new teaching (Mark 1.27).  His authority is undetermined and his teaching appears to be very different to the norm.  This is scary for some as they have a difficulty in determining his agenda (Mark 1.24).  Whilst in this particular case it is the result of "supernatural" knowledge it is still upsetting.  The question raised is an interesting one for it is the question I raised in the previous paragraph, although not spelled out - are you going to be a dictator or someone from God?  As we ourselves grow in faith this is a question that we have to ask ourselves - are we going to dictate what others do or are we going to encourage others to emulate God?  In reaching out to obtain knowledge we are also reaching out to obtain power.  In striving for knowledge we are also striving with ourselves as we apply that knowledge.  We can become power hungry and use our knowledge to dictate how others are to behave, both openly and subtly.  We are all familiar with the use of knowledge and power to delude people into thinking one thing while our "secret" behaviour is the opposite.  This gives rise to inappropriate behaviours and bullying for the sake of our own self importance.

It sometimes takes an effort to read the right path and not follow tradition

Christ makes it very clear that this is not the his way by rebuking the "unclean" spirit.  In the same manner Paul also rebukes those whose behaviour is misleading. How then can we determine what is right behaviour within our faith journey?  How can we determine that our actions are actually sowing the seeds of community and peace rather than discord and anger?  Tradition is not always something that should be blindly followed.  In increasing our knowledge and our faith we determine our actions that reflect Christ.  This may seem at odds with tradition where tradition has gone astray.  Just as Christ often did things that appeared to be contrary to tradition but actually fulfilled what God commanded.  If we are blind to our actions we may well lead people along the wrong path or misguide them by seemingly using knowledge without bringing love and understanding into their lives.  Understand that we are walking with God not that we are walking for our own agendas.  Walk the walk of Christ and not the walk of humanity so that we can change attitudes, worn out dogmas and traditions to create the new life in Christ.

How did it go so wrong?

No matter which Gospel story you take there is an underlying theme that is consistent with Christ's initial and ongoing ministry.  In John it is couched in a heavier disguise than the others yet the same message is there for us to contemplate and feel concerned.  Perhaps it is found in its simplest in Mark (1.15).  The fact that the Kingdom of God or rather the Reign of God is come, here, upon you, immediate, present, etc.  It is not future orientated but present orientated and yet through the ages an accrual of disappointment has arisen that has allowed theologians to point to a future kingdom / reign.  This is something of utmost importance for us in today's society and the world around us and it is something that we must fully come to grips with if we are to fulfil our mission in Christ.  Perhaps the major issue is in terminological understanding or in our dreams / strivings / wishes / wants, etc.

A kingdom or a reign what do we seek?

Let us start with the terminological understandings that has perhaps led to the issue that faces the faith community today.  The word form used in the Greek in Mark 1.15 and other places is "basileia" or "ßασιλεια" that is usually translated as "kingdom" but can also be translated as "reign", "monarchy" or "royalty".  The fact that the automatic translation of the word has come down to us as "kingdom" has automatically coloured our expectations.  In this case we perhaps strive for conquest or for a cohesive whole or a place.  In other words, we base our reality of God's wishes on our own empires and domains ruled by someone, perhaps in this case God.  This being the case then the perception carries through that those who head the conquering thrust are senior officials in the Kingdom having power and authority of their own.  In this sense then the Kingdom is still to come as the final conquest has not occurred as the whole of creation is not "Christian".  or perhaps it is to come in the "afterlife"...  What then if we change our perceptions?  Not something that is easily done as we have to divorce ourselves from a static entity "kingdom" to embrace a fluid understanding of "reign" or one of the others.  There is no specific place that comes to mind but rather an ethos or the way of being.  It is a much harder concept to visualise or even to understand, in a manner of speaking it is somewhat like the concepts of peace, justice, etc.  So if we are to understand this as our interpretation the presence of the "reign" being here and now is a much easier concept to embrace.

Here though comes the second challenge for it is easier to strive for, dream about, wish for a concrete reality in a geographical space such as a "kingdom"  than it is to dream about a concept that is all encompassing.  Yet when Christ says that the reign of God is close it is for it as close as the effort that we put in to make it so.  We have perhaps chased after a golden dream with our theological understandings rather than a practical working of the dream in the present reality.  Instead of being intellectual and waiting perhaps we need to be practical and doing to achieve the reality of newness and the reign of Christ.  Have we perhaps made too much of our theological prowess and created an over complex understanding for a simplicity that is inherent in the Gospel call.  Christ called fishermen not theologians into a simple life that meant we lived for the moment not for the ideal.  Paul states this magnificently in his Corinthian passage (1 Cor. 7.29-31) granting us a paradoxical upside downess that is the reign of Christ, happy in mourning, possessing without possessing, etc.  This is what we are called into not a future so obscured by theological non-insightful insight that it is unbelievable in today's age and unachievable in any.  Have we really let the reign of God slip so easily through our fingers as we have searched for a blessed time to come in a future that never arrives?  Maybe there is time for us to seek the kingdom of God in our lives if only we were to look for Christ's reign.

Called by God?

What makes you think that God has called you into ministry?  How do you know?  Does this mean that you are special and can now lord it all over others?  Questions that need answers when we think that God has called u into some new venture.  The call of God is an inevitable call into constant change and constant newness.  It is not an easy thing to recognise and is not and easy thing to grasp in our imaginations or lives. Just with Samuel and Eli often we do not understand what is happening until a while down the track (1 Sam. 3.1-11).  Most of us just like Samuel need to have someone say to us listen up God is talking.  It is all very well to try and be like the disciples and drop everything (John 1.45-51) but for many it is a question of time and being pushed into a new direction.

Often times this may seem very strange at the time and awkward for everyone around us but once we respond to that quiet voice we begin to see the formation of logical streams that culminate in what and where God wishes us to be.  Often it is in hindsight that we recognise the prompting of God even if for others it has been relatively obvious.  In the beginning of a new year we either find ourselves looking back and discovering our mistakes or looking forward and trying to find some means of struggling forward to some new purpose.  This can often arise as something that has attributes of sameness to those things that we had greatness with in the past.  A move which actually brings us back to the comfortable place that we inhabit with out assisting God to create newness.  In doing so we find it ever harder to discover God in our midst as we grow a hardened shell around us that prevents the newness we fear from entering in.  Yet God's voice is persistent and somehow bypasses the shields we place around us, it becomes an irritating itch that needs to be scratched or prevents us from gaining the rest that we are looking for in the midst of new activity.

Are we responding to God's voice in the ordinary?

What generally happens is that we put the call to the side and leave it like Eli does at the start of the interaction with Samuel (1 Sam. 1.4-7).  Unlike Eli though we are not as quick to realise what is occurring by putting up a wall or just ignoring the call.  We do not encourage ourselves to discern God's call on our communal lives or even our individual lives.  Things like God calling us are spooky and totally out there things that have no place in today's world.  This makes it easier and easier for us to ignore the small persistent voice. This means that we have accepted that we are in a place of comfort and do not want to grow or move on from this place.  God's call brings us away from the comforts of live and faces us with the harsh reality of those around us who are at the edges.  Another reason why we do not want to heed that small voice.  Who wants to give up comfortable surroundings for the desert and insecurity of life at the edge.  It is when we are prepared to move out into the shattered lives of tragedy that we find God is there ahead of us calling us to minister.  We just have to remember the affect of a run down parish had in the face of tragedy in London.  Yet the call is not just for tragedies it is for everyday boring life.  This unfortunately is were we struggle because we can see the need in tragedy and the bigger picture things like, Manus, like Nauru, like abuse, etc but we cannot see the differences in normal everyday lives.  We have lost our own connection to the sublime and the holy.  We cannot connect what these mean for an ordinary life in the world.  Perhaps it is time for us to answer God's call in the ordinary rather than waiting for the extraordinary.

The promise in the beginning

The Church celebrates the beginning of our faith journey with baptism.  A symbolism that recalls Christ's baptism  (Mark 1.9-11) and death to sin over calm waters that are prepared to keep the child from being to disturbed by the event.  In other denominations the event is more traumatic with the complete immersion of the person in a pool, somewhat closer to the original immersion baptism of the earlier church.  However, the symbolic immersion in the waters of the deep not only representative of death but also of the chaotic structures at the beginning of time (Gen. 1.1-3).  This passage is not as easy to understand as our historic roots would suggest.  We make an assumption of a God that is imperious and creator as opposed to a creation that is subservient to the imperious Creator's will.  This tumultuous text hides, in English translations, the Hebraic structuring of a complex sentence covering three (English) verses.  Verses that recall not an imperious God but one who invites creation from the absence of things that is present in tohu vabohu (emptiness and void) of a turbulent water over which God's Spirit hovers.

Beginnings do not start from no-thing but rather from the edge of chaos and order, a decision point that either moves us away from the turbulent into a stagnant similarity to what has gone before or sends us into a frenzied creativity pulling us along to form newness and change in the face of chaos.  Christ following his baptism, not surprisingly, is sent by the Spirit into the desert (tohu) of primal experimentation and creation not an abstract nothingness.  The place where God's Spirit hovers refreshing, renewing and creating pathways towards life and abundance.  Baptism asks us to give up, surrender the old life in place of the new.  A surrendering that allows for a sundering from what has gone before creating a space for newness to appear and develop.  The water's symbolism of those things which are beyond our grasp and understanding reach out to us to form newness and life.

Chaos and order at the edges leading to newness of life

It is in this place of possibilities that we hear God call to us, not in authority but rather as an invitation.  God calls to the light an invitation to be not a command to exist or be wrangled from out of the chaos and the deep.  This is a cooperative creation that brings order out of chaos.  In our baptism we are invited into a cooperative ministry that burgeons forth into the life of Christ in the community around us.  It is we who are invited to go out to invite.  To begin once more and undertake the process of creation.  The creation of peace and justice out of the chaos of modernity.  It is at the sharp edges of society where we are called to bring God's presence, it is here in the chaos of the everyday that we find the creativity of God's play as we answer the challenge that drives us into the tohu,. that place were there is no-thing but every possible thing.  The beginning comes at the start of all things and all times let us begin once more to taste the flavour of God's creativity in our lives.

A New Year a new resolution

Today we face the reality of an approaching New Year with its attendant resolutions, most of which will have been broken within a 24 hour period or slightly longer.  The resolutions that we make may well be made with fervour and real striving but will fail ultimately because there will be no one around to assist or help or walk alongside as we strive for the goal.  In Isaiah the prophet is rejoicing because the possibility has been achieved because God has walked with the people (Is 61.10-11).  As a Church and a Denomination and a Parish we too need to make a resolution and each of us needs to walk with each other and with God to achieve the resolution.  If we need to make a resolution what is that going to be?  Perhaps, a fairly pointless question as each one of us will have a different resolution to put forward and it is highly unlikely that any of us will agree fully on the way forward, in the end it will be the best fit rather than the one thing everyone wants.  Adjustments have to be made to accommodate everybody and in the end this will mean that a true goal is not aimed for or reached.  Why?  Simply stated we are all political and want to attain what we as individuals see as being optimal for us as individuals.

The prophesy for Mary was as individual as they come.  Simeon starts of revealing greatness and ends with sadness (Lk. 2.28-35).  Greatness in the Saviour sadness in the heart of Mary.  If our resolution aligns with Christ and God perhaps it is inevitable that some will feel sorrow.  However, sorrow is sometimes pointing to our own inadequacies rather than to the poverty of the outcome of the resolution.  In seeking for the future, we must allow the future to embed itself within us rather than being something that we drag up from the past to make into a "future".  In allowing God's Spirit into our lives and following the will of the Spirit we open ourselves to sadness and joy.  Just as Mary is foretold to have her heart rent (Lk. 2.34b) we too will have our hearts rent.  Simply this is a result of our own wants being dashed, maybe not as drastically as Mary but in some respects in a very similar way.  Mary would have wanted her child to have a long and productive life.  Maybe even as the prophesied King or even as a favoured prophet within the Judaic way.  She certainly did not wish or want an early death let alone one upon a cross.  However, she did not cling to what she wanted but she allowed the Spirit to direct her place and her dreams so that we to could dream with Mary of a new world.

God walks with us if we allow him to but it means giving up our wants

Our inability to allow ourselves to be taken by God and shepherded by God, and companioned by God draws us backwards rather than towards the new life that God promises all his children.  We companion our children through life, some not as well as others, but if we can do it why cannot we allow God to undertake this with his children (all of us) (Gal. 4.7).  We ourselves were companioned by others as we grew up and as we entered into the workforce.  Is it only because we have been taught that spiritual reality is not a true part of life? or is it because we do not want to give up our desires for the greater good of our communities?  Reading "The Well Tempered City" by Jonathan Rose made me stop to think what we would really be like if we lived out the dreams of God in community, if we stopped to consider the rest of our community rather than just ourselves, if we actually managed to be advocates for those who are the poorest of the poor in our communities, if we had the capacity to build using the environment as a partner rather than as a usable and disposable commodity?  Perhaps, our New Years resolution is to follow the call of God and not be persuaded to follow our dreams, to put up with the sadness but to live the glory.  Only when we have become a place of peace and justice will we really understand what it means to be part of God's call.

A peace that passes all understanding

In a year that is coming to an end that has been filled with hate, war and violence in all it's forms we wonder what is peace?  Is this concept ever going to be achievable within our lifetimes let alone the lifetime of the world?  Our conceptions of a peace that effects all people in a grandiose idea of harmony amongst the peoples of the world is a dream beyond our abilities to attain.  In saying this I realise I may be destroying a dream but in reality I am destroying an illusion that we have generated for ourselves in place of the reality that is beyond our understanding.  It is only beyond our understanding because we over complicate things rather than simplifying our lives.  If we are to understand we need to look at 2 Samuel and Luke linking them in our hearts and acting them out in our lives (2 Sam 7b.11; Luke 1.38).

The first realisation is that it is God's dream and God's will that brings the peace that we desire and that God seeks.  In placing it within the realm of humanity's striving we denigrate God's presence and dream.  It becomes all about us rather than all about God, no matter how we conceive of God.  In doing this we will never achieve peace as we will always have separate views of who/what God is and who/what God wants etc.  We cannot decide for ourselves how to worship God in our own denomination / faith let alone accept the other's view of God.  How then can we achieve peace, if all our dreams of peace are fantasies dreamt up by ourselves that devolve into our own in-fighting as to how we actually go about starting to achieve that peace?  Peace the concept is difficult to get our heads around in the first place as each person has a different notion of what peace is and here we are trying to reach out for God's peace.  Who knows what that is?  This is not for us to achieve, promote yes, achieve no as it requires God or at least Christ's presence in our midst.  Not something that we have cultivated in our lives with great relish.

Only when we let go of ourselves do we begin the process of peace

So what is the realisation that we need to take on board at this crucial time of the year (one sleep to go).  Can we achieve God's peace the one that passes all understanding?  Unlikely, as it passes all our understanding.  We limit ourselves to our conceptions.  Can we at least begin to comprehend or start the process that leads to God's peace; a peace that perhaps we yearn for but do not achieve as it is not possible through our own efforts.  How hard is this beginning for us?  It is both easy and hard a celebration and a sadness.  Mary (Lk 1.38) gets it right, perhaps in her naivety or rather in her honesty before God, Mary lets go of her life.  She lets go of control and she lets go of her wants, needs and desires.  Simple.  Straightforward. Easy.  However in doing so she gave up everything that we hold dear, which is where the sorrow comes in for us.  The unimaginable sadness of letting what we perceive to be right go without any doubts recriminations or hesitancy.  Once again the ugly head of our own reticence and selfishness rears up as we determine what it is that God asks of us to achieve a peace beyond understanding.  We want control; we want our peace; we want that which eases our souls not what eases the burden on others.

This is not the lesson to be learnt in these passages.  God's peace comes with God, for us to be participants in that peace is to be like Mary.  Mary accepts.  Even in her youthful state she is more aware of the response that is required to attain God's peace.  Even in the heartbreak of the death of her son she knows God's peace,  Even in the knowledge that life is not going to be easy she finds peace by accepting the call of God.  This is where we need to look for God's peace for it is only God who can give such peace it cannot be achieved by our own efforts, however much we strive for it.  In letting go we find God, in letting go we find God's peace beyond all our understanding.