Turbulence and peace

 It is in uncertain times that we often turn towards the spiritual. This spiritual turn is not unexpected because we are trying to deal with turbulence in our lives and / or in our community's life. The turbulence brings out our uncertainties and we need somewhere to go so as to bring about a calmer place. In this case we turn to the one place we cannot fathom which is the spiritual. Christ attempts to bring this about by moving away from the crowds to try and a) prevent his own burn out and b) to try and get the disciples to re-connect for themselves (Mk. 6:31-34). However, doing so is never easy and it is only after more ministry does Christ manage to move away from the crowds. Yet, we must also try and manage ourselves in a similar manner of escape and renewal. It is out of the hecticity of modern life that we can manage to find some peace and renew ourselves when we begin to interact with that which is spiritual.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians reminds us all that at one time or another we were not who we are today as Christians. We have all taken that plunge into the waters of uncertainty to become who we are today as Christians relying on the presence of Christ in our lives to change them. Yet, we are still overwhelmed by the hecticity of today especially with regards the continuing changing conditions around COIVD. In allowing ourselves to be challenged by modern life without recourse to our other resources reveals our lack and our inability to connect. We simply allow those with louder voices to prevail in our lives. Just take the current events in NSW as an example. It is not that those in leadership positions have no knowledge or are not aware of the extent of the virus problem. The simple fact is that those in leadership position are listening to the loud panicky voices of economic giants who do not wish to curtail their ability to enrich themselves. Those in leadership sometimes need to take a step back, just as Christ was attempting to do. In doing so we divorce ourselves from the clamour of every persons needs and are able to see the preferred way in Christ.

Maybe we do not need the crowds but our own sense of God

By stepping back we put to the side that nature which listens with greed to the loudest voice. This is the nature that comes before our acceptance of Christ. In accepting Christ we begin to listen to those in true need and cater for the other rather than for our benefit. Whilst Christ was unable to withdraw he was still able to answer to the true needs of the other and sometimes we too must struggle in the midst of chaos and hecticity to ensure that the needs of the other are seen to before our own. This type of tension is seen in the reading from the second book of Samuel that tells of David's dreams and the response from God (2 Sam 7:1-14). David wants to charge ahead, as far as he is concerned there is no need to take a step back, but rather he must honour God and build a temple. However, while Nathan starts of by saying "yeah go ahead and do whatever you want" God intervenes and clearly states that it is better to set aside these dreams and consolidate what you have. David was for going all out but has to be hauled back into the present to shepherd the flock that was Israel. 

Whilst we may look to the fulfilment of our dreams and our wishes in life there are times when we must actually step back and take a break from what we do. Not to discard the empty dreams but rather to fulfil them in the long term. Again the COVID situation comes to mind here. We need to put a break and our wants, our needs and gain from taking a step back. In this case the step back is to put a hold on our life and say yes I can isolate for a few days and so for the benefit of the whole and for my own long term dreams I am able to reset. I can acknowledge that sometimes I and my community must slow down but that does not mean that we stop dreaming. Rather this is a time for us to dream once more so that when we are back in a normalised society and community we can bring the gifts of God to those who are in need in a bigger way than before. So that we can follow Christ and show God's light to the world and not burn ourselves out in attempting the impossible. We need to rely on God and our spiritual sense to keep us in the way of Christ.

The call to do weird things

 Have you ever thought to yourself as you are standing doing something for the Church: "This is weird"? I suspect that often many young people look at the church and think the same thing with perhaps the ongoing comment "You will never catch me doing anything like that." Yet, at the end of the day some of us who are older will at times look at what youngsters get up to and mirror those thoughts. If we went back a hundred years and not even that our parents and grandparents at our age would have been saying the same thing. It happens in every generation as each of us explores the new fresh expressions of life that we engage in things that our parents and grandparents would never do let alone even contemplate doing. If we truly think about it in any way Mical's reaction (2 Sam 6:16) to David's dancing before the Lord is this same thing that each of us have had. Her displeasure with David is often the same reaction we get in seeing something we think is a bit weird. It may not be quite as virulent as is implied but that to can also be a reaction for some.

I can perhaps see the reaction of some in our pews to the idea of what amounts to an exuberant dance occurring in the aisle or chancel of our churches. Yet, God calls us to exhibit a kind of weirdness to the community and sometimes we need to extend that weirdness to the raucousness of David's dance. It is not that we should abandon everything that we have done or are doing it is perhaps that we need to extend our worship and praise, as well as what we do in the community, in alternate directions which we think are weird. For some, that may be extending worship into a new format, say, Taizé or, dare I say it, dance in the eucharistic service. These may seem novel or unusual for us and thus weird but others may feel comfortable and be drawn into an alternate expression of our spirituality. Interestingly far more younger people than older people enjoy the stillness induced by the Taizé service rather than the traditional form of worship. Like Mical we are sometimes so bound to what we know and what we think that we are unable to encompass something that seems strange to us but may well be an attraction to others.

What we think as foolish may be what God requires of us

In taking on something new we must proceed with a certain amount of caution because in our willingness to please we may end up in circumstances which are both controversial and against the way we wish to go (Mk 6:26). It is not about just jumping in and going for it. Rather there is a certain amount of discernment involved. Yes, we may well be called into the extraordinary but we need to be sure that this is actually where God wants us and not just another thought bubble on our part. If it is a thought bubble on our part then the likelihood is that everyone will look down on us and move away. If on the other hand it is something that comes from God and matures in the wisdom of God's presence then those who are ashamed by it will be out numbered by those that come to celebrate the new life that the idea, worship or whatever brings to the community. To often we are amongst those that decry a new idea to bring joy into the heart of our community. Simply because it is new and also because we are loath to change.

We have an exceptionally hard time when it comes to new ideas. We would prefer things that we have done previously or even those things that we have seen others undertake. Why are we scared of taking on something new? Why are we hesitant about answering God's call into something new? We belittle ourselves and believe that we will make fools of ourselves much as Mical thinks David is doing. we are too ashamed about what others think and so we prevent ourselves from taking on a new idea, a new style of worship, a new understanding of what God requires of us. We are presented with ideas to further our understanding of God, how we worship, how we interact with others to bring God's love into the world and yet we refuse to undertake that which is possible. This is due mainly to fear. We have not grasped what Paul understands with regards to the pledge of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:14). Everything is possible in Christ and in the presence of the Holy Spirit only we are embarrassed to embrace what we are called into. We are too concerned about what other people, like Mical, will think of us and not what God wants of us. Let us answer God's call into what we think is wierdness only to discover God's glory and love.

 

Take nothing with

 In Mark's gospel the disciples are sent out into the world and told to take nothing with other than a stick or staff (Mk. 6:8). We enter into the world at birth with nothing and Christ sends his disciples into the world with nothing, so why are we so hung up about our worldly possessions? This question is a good one for any of us who declare ourselves Christian. In answering it we have to be very careful in what we say because if we are not we go against our own beliefs in God and Christ, indeed we place our trust in our own answers and our own abilities rather than placing our faith in God. In the modern world it is very difficult for us to live with such supreme faith and trust. Since the enlightenment and the understanding granted to us by the scientific process we tend now not to place trust in something we do not know fully or at all.

 Can you really imagine beginning a journey to Kathmandu without first making as many investigations and preparation as we can?  Even if we were to change our job or our living circumstances the amount of preparation and investigation that proceeds such a life changing moment is enormous. We very rarely just get up and go. There are some who do and they often come back and say what a life changing journey / trip / change it was for them. For those of us in the faith community that calls itself followers of Christ our essential understanding should be, we do not like the term must, that we take a step in faith along the journey towards God and to become more Christlike. If we do not take that step of faith then we are indubitably making assessments as to the way forward on our own understanding and knowledge. We have no trust in the God we proclaim and apparently worship. If Christ is able to send the disciples out with nothing and they are prepared to go at a time that was perhaps even more dangerous then ours, why are we not prepared to take that step of faith?

If you don't take the step of faith you do not know what wonders you will miss

Perhaps the answer is in how we live our modern lives. Everything is convenient for one and we are not prepared to sacrifice convenience for faith. Anyone who has made a move or changed their lives knows that one of the things we look for in our planning is the availability of what we think we need most. Young families will look for schools perhaps, or local clubs that support their sport or interest. Can you imagine as a golfer going of to live somewhere where there is no golf course readily available? This is one of the reasons we do not take that step of faith. The other major reason, if you will, is that we are to terrified of the unknown in this day and age. Faith requires a certain amount of acceptance to / of what we cannot see or grasp but is there non the less. The mystical experience or the spiritual foundations of the faith journey are no longer an accepted part of our milieu or society. The worst legacy from the enlightenment is this inability to connect with things that cannot be conceived. We need to have an understanding, a hands on, so to speak before we can acknowledge the possibility.

If we were to hear Paul's story of the man caught up to the third heaven and paradise (2 Cor. 12: 3-4) today we would think that we were reading from some fantasy novel or science fiction or maybe he was just a bit high. In other words fiction is the operative word. Yet, for Paul's respondents this was a distinct and great possibility just as it would translate well for some of our historic mystics within the Christian faith.  Somehow, we need to move past our scientific and resolute attitude to achieve an understanding of faith that is beyond our everyday world. Much of what could not be explained at the time that the scriptures were written can be explained today by science but the mystical and super-natural is still present in our acknowledgement of faith even if we are to deny it. The world has turned and what is interesting is that a large number of young people read and are enthralled by fantasy, science fiction and other genres in film and book. These books are appealing to the side of our lives which is beyond fact and reliant on faith. Belief in both Christian and other circles is to a large extent based on our ability to believe in something other. The disciples had no such problem. They believed and as a result were willing to throw themselves into an unknown situation with little planning to follow a dream. To live in a reality beyond themselves to bring others into the presence of God. It is this attitude of throwing ourselves into an unknown future that follows a call from God. Much like Bilbo Baggins we need to step on the road that leads us into the unknown.

Loosing and gaining power

 If we are given power and authority in our faith journey to what end do we use it and if it is taken away how do we cope? This is the question that the scriptures lay before us today and for us they are extremely important as we begin to progress into the future. They are important at a parish level, at a diocesan level and at the level of our secular communities to which we belong. The latter most particularly as we move into a time of elections within local and national government. It actually boils down to who has power and authority and are they the right people to have it, if not what will happen when we take that power and authority away from them?

The Church overall acts as a community of love or rather it should. We are however only human and bring into our faith groups our own understandings. Yet, one would think that irrespective of our own expectations we would live up to the expectations of our faith having embraced it. This is often not the case, which ultimately means that we do not live out the expectations of others and inevitably cast a disruptive light on the whole community. The classic example here is when we express that we will obey the commandment to love our neighbour and then immediately turn around and deny justice and love to those who are different either because people have said that this group / person is not accepted or because a core belief of ours suggests that they do not belong. This would be like Christ rejecting the pleas of the synagogue leader just because someone has said the child is dead (Mk 5:35). Our core belief should be our faith belief not what others say.

If this is the case, then when we are in positions of power our use of that power should be determined by our core belief, our faith. If it is not then we are in danger or are committing our lives to a life of hypocrisy by stating our faith beliefs. Christ does not allow power to be squandered and yet at the same time he is aware of how costly such power is by being attuned to its loss and the reasons for such loss (Mk 5:30). Yet he is not afraid to lose the power for a worthy result that is consistent with love. If we were to look at a similar situation with ourselves we would undoubtedly complain should we lose one iota of power even if it was for a benefit consistent with our beliefs. We are hoarders of the power given to us by God we are not among those that are free with the power given to them. Unlike Christ we will debate every singly jot of power that has been disseminated within our authority to ensure that it is given to empower our own wants and needs rather than someone else's.

Letting go allows for love and freedom to enter in as opposed to doubt and anxiety

We are rich in the things that God grants to us and yet we so often squander those gifts on our own selves and not on others. The gifts that God gives are not meant for us to hoard and dole out when it suits us or when there is an advantage for us. The gifts that God gives are for us to shower on others so that God will gift us even more with the love that is returned seventy and a hundred fold. It is out of abundance that Paul asks the Corinthians to give (2 Cor 8:10-15) and in giving out of abundance to relieve the poverty of others the abundance will find its way back to us. In this circumstance Paul is referring to financial burdens and how often, if we have been generous, that generosity comes back to us in our time of need. The same applies in the same way to power and authority as it does for the generation and distribution of wealth. If we allow ourselves to give up that which we yearn for the real likelihood exists of such power and authority returning to us. Yet, we hold on to what we have been given and hoard it thinking that if we let it out of our hands we will be worse off.

Christ allows power to flow from him to heal and bring release from suffering. Saul during his reign sought only power for himself, even though Samuel mourns at his death (2 Sam. 1:17-27), not for the sake of the people just as God warned prior to his ascension to the rulership of Israel. The issue is that we succumb to the pleasures that power and authority bring rather than allowing others access. In doing so we die to God's presence as it becomes solely about ourselves and not about our community. Love though is solely about the other and not dependent on the self. In giving of ourselves and letting go of our concerns over power in our small kingdoms we allow the bigger presence and kingdom of God in to flourish.

Crossing to the other side

 We are often afraid to move into new things. Change frightens us because of the new difficulties that it inevitably brings to our lives. Just think of the many different ways this is true in our lives. Moving house, moving communities, moving countries, moving jobs and careers, etc. The first thing to note about all of these is that it involves a movement away from where we have been to where we want to be. The very fact that movement is part of the equation tells us that change is inevitable as we journey through life's varied and often difficult terrain. In the journey of our lives we face difficulties and many of these become giants in our imagination or high powered storms that prevent our access to what we believe to be our future. It is we that have to struggle in the midst of such storms in life and with the giants of our imagination.

In the story that is beloved by many, David faces a giant that opposes the Israelites (1 Sam. 17:32 - ff). A giant that has grown in all proportions so that their courage and their faith is challenged making them lose heart (1 Sam 17:32). This is a story of courage and faith. Courage to face our deepest fears and faith to understand that if we do not stand against those things we fear we are automatically dead, so to speak. Our fear when facing the giants in our lives and in our communities is often due to our lack of faith not only in what we can actually accomplish but also a lack of faith in God. God did no create us for God's amusement in our failures but rather so that we can become more compassionate and loving. In order for us to become more compassionate and caring we have to overcome our own doubts, our own hesitancies about our abilities. It takes somebody of great courage and trust to step out and face the giants of our modern era, those things that we fear to confront and conquer because they overwhelm us. We build that courage and trust by placing ourselves in the hands of God and follow in Christ knowing that they will guide us with their Spirit.

In the midst of uncertainty we need to trust ourselves and face the future that is unknown (@rachelbotsman)

Christ appears so calm in the face of the storm (Mk 4:38), fast asleep without a care in the world. Our approach to storms in our lives is to be more like the disciples in the boat, facing the storm with fear which ultimately leads to panic. Many of the storms we face our created from our own self doubts. We are unable to face down those things that terrorise us and in our moments of weakness allow the issues we are facing to become increasingly greater and out of control. Christ understands this and faces the fears by rebuking them which of course the struggling disciples find awesome. A rebuke is a facing down of what is feared so that we can handle the situation. It is facing our fear and not allowing our weakness dictate how we live our lives. In a recent tweet Rachel Botsman (@rachelbotsman) points out that the essence of trusting ourselves is that ability to sit in the presence of doubts and uncertainty in order to learn and eventually grow. This is often an ongoing theme in MMORPG and the LitRPG books that are often spawned by or spawn them. The understanding that we grow from what our uncertainties and fears teach us.

In approaching our future, not only as individuals but also as faith communities we also need to come to this understanding and follow David and Christ with courage to face our fears of the future and our doubts as to our abilities. One of the giants of our time, which continually raises its head in some form or another, is the continuing and ongoing presence of intimate family violence, commonly known as domestic violence. We like David need to approach this giant of behavioural monstrosity and cut it out from our communities. The Anglican Church in Australia is at the forefront with the issue of a recent report and challenge to us as a faith community(https://anglican.org.au/our-work/family-violence/). Like David we take it one step at a time, preparing and facing, as it is a giant that we can conquer if we allow ourselves to face the fear we all have that there is little we can do. In facing our future as a community we also have to sit with our uncertainties and trust in ourselves, as well as in God's saving presence to guide us in facing our doubts and fears. It is only when we do this that we can say as the murdered priest, Luis Espinal, wrote "Train us, Lord, to fling ourselves upon the impossible, for beyond the impossible is your grace and your presence; we cannot fall into emptiness. The future is an enigma, our road is covered by mist, but we want to go on giving ourselves, because you continue hoping amid the night and weeping tears through a thousand human eyes".

Shallow sight

 Last week I spoke of our inability to see with long sight to those things that we need to undertake for the future. This week's readings speak to us of how shallow our sight is, especially when it comes to seeing others for who they are. We rely on what is presumably the shortest sight that we can achieve because it is the quickest and thus for our age the best. We only have to look at the first reading from today regarding the selection of David (1 Sam.16:1-13). Just like everyone else Samuel sees not with God's eyes but with the eyes of the human. A short quick assessment of what is before him allows him to judge the worth of the sons. Too often we too use the quick sight that is shallow to assess our neighbours and what is before us.

It is not only people that we undertake this shallow sight on, it is at the end of the day basically every single thing that we have to look at. What do I mean? Well if we are presented with a new way of doing something we give it a quick glance and then depending on our life experience will make a decision as to whether it is going to be effective or not. Quite often we overlook something that is phenomenal only to kick ourselves later when it becomes obvious that it is the next technique, object or whatever which has become something of desire. I can think of a number of occasions when I was offered something and declined only to never be able to obtain it again. Our shallow gaze often makes us overlook the inherent goodness or rightness in what we are looking at or how it will change our lives for the better. Our shortness of sight and our quickness to take exception lead us into our many downfalls not only as people but as members of our faith.

A light bulb moment can come from the smallest thing

We also go on to overlook the smallest of possibilities because we are to focussed on making the grand gesture. We think that because something is small in our eyes then it is worthless especially when it comes to new beginnings. We want to be lavish when we undertake things but as Christ points out in the parables of the seed (Mk. 4:26-34) it is the small beginnings that bring about the most change. In our parishes and our lives we yearn for the big opportunity, the big new start and overlook the small offerings that are made to us each and every day. It is from the smallest acorn that a mighty oak is grown and so for us it is from the smallest and humblest of hearts that the greatest faith and beginning is found. We cannot fathom the incomprehensibility of God's thoughts or plans such that we must make our own as a form of compensation. We dream big and as a result we often do not have our dreams come to fruition. But just think if we were but to plant a small seed of love in someone's life who knows what will grow as a result. That does not mean that we do not dream big but rather allow for a small start that will grow to fulfil our dreaming.

Paul states in the letter to the Corinthians that we are always confident (2 Cor. 5:6). We are totally confident in ourselves. We are confident in our dreams and in our plans, yet we, unlike those that Paul address, are too often not one with the Lord. We do not live in our faith but in our own ideas and our own plans. We belittle others because, more often than not, they do not dream big enough for us. Yet, if we were to see with God's eyes, if we were to look beyond our senses and actually manage to walk in faith we would see a devastatingly different world. We would not shun the small but celebrate the seeds that are sown in the small ways that we reach out to the other. To often we allow what we deem to be the big picture to cloud the compassion that God asks of us and wishes us to take in faith. We just have to think of the response over the last few years of the government to a small Tamil family who have sought asylum and were in Queensland accepted into the community. Instead of looking at a small impoverished family they saw the large problem. They looked superficially rather than with deep eyes of faith and Christ. Paul states to the Corinthians that we must not look with human eyes but with the eyes of Christ (2 Cor: 5:16). This means that we must take our time when we are assessing things like new projects, new ways of doing things and new outlooks that are different from what we think we believe. This means that we must also look with the discernment of the Spirit much as how David's kingly abilities were discerned. Only when we are certain of the path that God wishes us to travel can we make decisions that further God's kingdom that allows the sown seeds of faith to grow.

Seen and unseen

I suppose that our transient lives predispose us to looking for short term benefits rather than for long term gains. We prefer a bit of adhockery so as to deal with issues as they arise rather than moving into a new future with planning for future generations. One of the issues with our political system is that those we elect are people who are often a generation behind in their thinking and in what the people of their country are asking for. Simply put those in power are often looking for short term goals to either remain in power or make a quick fix to growing situations. In the reading from 1 Samuel we hear about the Israelites wanting a king (1 Sam 8:4-11) and we know the consequences of getting what is wanted as opposed to what is beneficial and to be desired. In looking for a king, a mortal king / leader the Israelites were not looking towards God nor were they looking at a long term picture. Like our present day they were focussed only on the perceived benefits of the short term goal, a king.

In our own lives we too look for short term gains very rarely we look at the long term. Just think about the increasing presence of short term loan companies like PayPal, etc. Paul in writing to the Corinthians hits the nail on the head when he states that our troubles are slight and short-lived (2 Cor 4:17). This is the reality, if we were to look at things in perspective. We are consumed by our short lives and therefore seek to take every advantage we can to become what society portrays as being the best. This could and can be riches, fame, comfort, etc. All of which are geared to our personal taste and wants rather than needs. We would rather spend more on an item that will give us pleasure in the short term rather than seek for a long term gain or goal. There are exceptions, there is no denying the fact that some people go for a long term goal rather than the short term but these are exceptional people and often they are not noticed by society around them. Some are of course quite famous but the fame has not come as a result of seeking it but rather as a result of their example in their selected community. None of us had heard of Mother Theresa until her deeds were published or became famous. How many years had she been doing the things she was doing before she was noticed by the rest of us?

Do we see the future possibilities or the present gains?

Even when we think of our own community it is often with a sight on the short term goal rather than a long term understanding of the future. Let us go back say twenty years in many parishes and you would have found thriving communities with much love in an apparently exciting environment that appeared to be extremely successful. Twenty years on and often those communities are in the midst of struggle because they were unwise in what they sought looking at their success as an ongoing given rather than as the short life that it actually was. Often as parishes and as other spiritually formed communities we look only to gain more people of like mind, bemoan our lacks and recast ourselves into the successes of the past. The moment we have in plenty we do not think to the future but rather think only of the present much the same as do aged politicians who know that they will have no future other than what they have in the present. The question we fail to ask is what does God want from us and our communities?

God does not favour one above the other God loves all. God does not favour our human constraints on what God thinks or wills but wishes for us to become as Christ. What precisely does this mean for us? Well, in the words of Christ "who are my mother and my brothers?" (Mark 3:33) and the answer is not those in the present who believe that they are. The so called guardians of our future who only think of the past or their time. No it is we who are the purveyors of the future and it is we who must look far into the future and strive towards what God wants - all to be as Christ to those around them. It is not the sanctuary of the old church were we were baptised but the community that our children's children would wish for; the one that is free of pain and filled with love and understanding of each others difference. Our riches are not on earth but are present in Christ as we seek for a better world not just for our selves but for all of our companions in Christ wherever and whoever they may turn out to be. They are the unseen future goals not the seen present gains.