tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19488364530709042052024-03-13T23:02:18.592+11:00"...ascending and descending..."orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-53562780777255438482022-08-07T15:10:00.002+10:002022-08-07T15:10:13.182+10:00Treasure in Heaven and the Thief<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"> Luke 12:32-34</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />"Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, <br />for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sell your belongings and give alms. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, </div><div style="text-align: left;">an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">Thomas 76</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus says: </div><div><span> </span>"The Kingdom of the Father is like a man, a merchant, </div><div><span> </span>who has a burden and found a pearl. </div><div><span> </span>This merchant is a wise man: </div><div><span> </span>he sold the bundle and bought the pearl alone. </div><div><br /></div><div> You also seek his treasure which does not perish, which lasts, </div><div> into which the moth does not enter to consume and where the worm does not destroy."</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Luke 12:35-40</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Gird your loins and light your lamps </div><div style="text-align: left;">and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, </div><div style="text-align: left;">ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Amen, I say to you, </div><div style="text-align: left;">he will gird himself, have them recline at table, </div><div style="text-align: left;">and proceed to wait on them. </div><div style="text-align: left;">And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, </div><div style="text-align: left;">blessed are those servants.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Be sure of this: </div><div style="text-align: left;">if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, </div><div style="text-align: left;">he would not have let his house be broken into. </div><div style="text-align: left;">You also must be prepared, </div><div style="text-align: left;">for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Thomas 21</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mary says to Jesus: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>"Who are your disciples like?" </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">He says to her: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>"They are like little children </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>who have made their way into a field that does not belong to them. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>When the owners of the field come, they will say: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span>'Get out of our field!' </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>They then will give up the field to these people and let them have their field back again."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>"That is why I tell you this: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>If the master of the house knows that the thief is coming, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>he will watch before he comes </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>and will not allow him to force an entry into his royal house to carry off furniture. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>You, then, be on the watch against the world. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Gird up your loins with great energy, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>so that the brigands do not find any way of reaching you; </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>for they will find any place you fail to watch."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-81773000757778951672022-07-29T11:44:00.006+10:002022-07-29T15:44:17.490+10:00The Parable of the Rich Fool<div style="text-align: left;"><b> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6Y2htI1k4cjwPBwf2aTrA8W1uqkpLNBDMcL7JzEf3QyLmIjlYJrqduq6MwACVV7w34zSL7_xPVrYMca65-KU3o5hWTXTZ8TXsrDtEFSBEBPw9W0A9gNp7dGAkoafJlr2IbNHxc1KcKofTFRGqY-LdGGrqzf1jTrmNJ9oYKrYa9Nd3HyxI59QIjPGcQ/s650/James_Tissot_The_Man_Who_Hoards_400.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6Y2htI1k4cjwPBwf2aTrA8W1uqkpLNBDMcL7JzEf3QyLmIjlYJrqduq6MwACVV7w34zSL7_xPVrYMca65-KU3o5hWTXTZ8TXsrDtEFSBEBPw9W0A9gNp7dGAkoafJlr2IbNHxc1KcKofTFRGqY-LdGGrqzf1jTrmNJ9oYKrYa9Nd3HyxI59QIjPGcQ/s320/James_Tissot_The_Man_Who_Hoards_400.jpg" width="197" /></a></div><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Luke 12:13-14</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></div><div>Someone in the crowd said to him, </div><div><span> </span>"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."</div><div><br /></div><div>But He said to him, </div><div> "Man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?"</div><div style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Thomas 72</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Some person [said] to him, </div><div> "Tell my siblings to share my father's possessions with me." </div><div><br /></div><div>He said to that person, </div><div> "My good fellow, who has made me into an arbitrator?" </div><div><br /></div><div>He turned to his disciples and said to them, </div><div> "So am I an arbitrator?"</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Luke 12:15</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Then he said to them, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>"Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>for not even when one has an abundance </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>does his life consist of his possessions."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Luke 12:16-21</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>And he told them a parable, saying, </div><div><span> </span>"The land of a rich man was very productive.</div><div><span> </span>And he began reasoning to himself, saying, </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?'</div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span>Then he said, </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>'This is what I will do: </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>and there I will store all my grain and my goods.</div><div><span> </span><span> </span>And I will say to my soul, </div><div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>"Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; </div><div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'</div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span>But God said to him, </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>'You fool! </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>This very night your soul is required of you; </div><div><span> </span><span> </span>and now who will own what you have prepared?'</div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span>So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Thomas 63</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus said, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>"There was a rich man who had considerable wealth. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>He said, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span>'I shall invest my wealth so as to sow, reap, plant, and fill my barns with crops, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span>lest I run short of something.' </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>These things are what he was thinking in his heart, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>and that very night the man died. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Whoever has ears should listen!"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sirach 11:18-19</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>One becomes rich through diligence and self-denial,</div><div> and the reward allotted to him is this:</div><div>when he says, ‘I have found rest,</div><div> and now I shall feast on my goods!’</div><div>he does not know how long it will be</div><div> until he leaves them to others and dies.</div></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-70033374292172528282018-09-01T15:26:00.000+10:002018-09-01T15:33:53.929+10:00A Tale of Two FridaysOne Friday in mid July of this year, I was driving across Christchurch.<br />
<div>
We had recently moved back to Christchurch, after having lived in Australia for the past 10 years.</div>
<div>
I had never driven in Christchurch. I only learnt to drive in Australia.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was driving through the Merivale-Fendalton-Bryndwyr area. </div>
<div>
This was where I went to school. I knew these streets through school friends etc.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was on my way to visit a parishioner who is suffering with cancer. </div>
<div>
Healing is very important in my ministry. </div>
<div>
It is something I was called to very early on in my ministry. It is a place I am my most comfortable, and where I know the presence of God most clearly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As I drove those streets on my way to go about this work, </div>
<div>
I began to be filled with a sense of right place right time.</div>
<div>
It was clear.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A song came on the radio:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've always kind of liked this song. Great late 70.'s keyboards, catchy rhythm, really nice vocal by Michael MacDonald, and wonderful falsetto backing vocals in the chorus. All good.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As the song played, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of elation. </div>
<div>
Through my body, a great calm light filled me. </div>
<div>
I realised I was smiling, singing, laughing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pure joy.</div>
<div>
It was joy in the work, </div>
<div>
joy in where I was, </div>
<div>
joy in where I was heading.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The presence of God was clear. </div>
<div>
He had lead me to this moment, and everything was right.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I arrived at the parishioners house, and we went about our work. </div>
<div>
We heard from the scriptures, we shared in Holy Communion, I laid hands for healing.</div>
<div>
Our work began, and continues today with progress.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One Friday in late August, I was driving through Christchurch.</div>
<div>
I was now more used to the roads, the Christchurch way of things.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was driving through Somerfield-Barrington-Cashmere arera, on my way to a pastoral visit.</div>
<div>
This was an area I knew from a later part of my life. </div>
<div>
We lived around here just before we moved to Australia.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Things in the parish had been rolling along; busy, lots going on.</div>
<div>
In recent weeks, things had taken a very dark tone.</div>
<div>
Divisions in the parish had arisen due to a decision I had had to make.</div>
<div>
There was an ongoing campaign to discredit my decision. </div>
<div>
It had become quite nasty.</div>
<div>
I felt incredibly alone.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On this Friday, several things had all come together, making my ministry feel untenable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A song came on the radio:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
I've always kind of liked this song. I remember it coming out when I was a kid.</div>
<div>
It is classic early 80's Queen, with a great Bowie vocal.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As I drove, I eagerly waited for my favourite bit, just before it really rocks out. </div>
<div>
Bowie and Mercury exchange lines and verses, both voices at their best:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<i>Bowie: </i> Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn</div>
<div>
<i>Mercury</i>: Why - why - why?</div>
<div>
<i>Bowie</i>: Love love love love love</div>
<div>
Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking</div>
<div>
<i>Mercury</i>: Can't we give ourselves one more chance</div>
<div>
Why can't we give love that one more chance</div>
<div>
Why can't we give love give love give love give love</div>
<div>
Give love give love give love give love give love</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
Bowie: 'Cause love's such an old fashioned word</div>
<div>
And love dares you to care for</div>
<div>
The people on the (People on streets) edge of the night</div>
<div>
And loves (People on streets) dares you to change our way of</div>
<div>
Caring about ourselves</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At this point, I was consumed by the utter hopelessness of my situation.</div>
<div>
It was overwhelming.</div>
<div>
I pulled over so I could get myself together.</div>
<div>
It felt like there was nowhere I should be, </div>
<div>
nowhere I was useful, </div>
<div>
nowhere I was wanted.</div>
<div>
I have never felt so lost and alone.</div>
<div>
Under pressure, indeed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pure desolation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
No presence of God, just absence.</div>
<div>
It felt as if I had taken a very wrong turn.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I arrived at the parishioners house, and we went about our work. </div>
<div>
We heard from the scriptures, and sorted what needed to be sorted.<br />
<br />
I don't know where or what all this means.<br />
I trust in God's guidance.<br />
I understand that what I understand as his absence is my understanding, not the reality.<br />
<br />
It is time to take time and be still.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-64775448194065406082014-11-23T14:01:00.000+11:002015-12-12T14:02:43.834+11:00Sermon for Christ the King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>“Truly I tell you,</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>you did it to me.”</b></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,<br />then he will sit on the throne of his glory.<br />All the nations will be gathered before him,<br />and he will separate people one from another<br />as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, </blockquote>
<br />
We are at the judgement.<br />
Jesus sits on a throne in glory, angels around him.<br />
<br />
This must will be wonderful sight, one we will all behold, one we will all share in.<br />
Christ the King,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
All the nations will be gathered before him,<br />and he will separate people one from another<br />as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.</blockquote>
<br />
It gets a bit trickier there.<br />
This idea of separation.<br />
Sheep and goats.<br />
<br />
It all seems quite harsh.<br />
But I suppose the good thing is that in the passage, we are given the criteria of this judgement.<br />
In this passage, Jesus tells what it is that we are to be judged on.<br />
And with the overall message of Matthew’s Gospel,<br />
we are given a lens with which we can focus the message<br />
<br />
Jesus says to the those at his right hand, the sheep:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father,<br />inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;<br />for I was hungry and you gave me food,<br />I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,<br />I was a stranger and you welcomed me,<br />I was naked and you gave me clothing,<br />I was sick and you took care of me,<br />I was in prison and you visited me.” </blockquote>
<br />
This list is more or less repeated four times in this passage.<br />
<br />
Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned.<br />
<br />
Listen to those.<br />
<br />
Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned.<br />
<br />
Think of the kind of people that will suffer them.<br />
These are the people who are having it really tough.<br />
Some may have made bad decisions that have led them to be in such a situation.<br />
But I don’t hear anything in what Jesus says that would allow that to be a reason to not help.<br />
<br />
Food, water, welcomed, clothed, care, visited.<br />
<br />
Listen to those.<br />
<br />
Think of the kind of person that would respond to those in trouble in such a way.<br />
This is a person who responds to need.<br />
<br />
Think of the kind of heart that responds in such a way.<br />
<br />
This is a heart that is open to another.<br />
This is a heart that is not hardened by life.<br />
This is a heart that is not cynical or suspicious.<br />
This is a heart that responds openly with love.<br />
<br />
The actual acts, the actual needs are not the important element.<br />
They are repeated to emphasize the idea of need,<br />
to really bring home the hopelessness of some people’s lives,<br />
but in and of themselves they are not the point.<br />
<br />
The main point is what is going on in the person who responds.<br />
<br />
It is about showing mercy.<br />
<br />
Mercy is a strong feature in Matthew’s Gospel.<br />
<br />
In the calling of Matthew,<br />
when Jesus is being criticized for associating with tax collectors and sinners, he replies<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”</blockquote>
<br />
Again, when he is criticized for doing something unlawful on the Sabbath, he replies<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But if you had known what this means,<br />“I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless.</blockquote>
<br />
I desire mercy and not sacrifice<br />
<br />
In both instances Jesus is quoting the Prophet Hosea<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,<br /> the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings. </blockquote>
<br />
Steadfast love, mercy.<br />
<br />
This is more important to God than anything else.<br />
To do the works,<br />
to clothe, feed, visit, and care,<br />
but without a heart that is filled with steadfast love,<br />
to do such works as these without a heart that is acting out of mercy<br />
is to miss the point.<br />
<br />
It is mercy that God desires from us.<br />
<br />
He longs for us to not only look after those who are doing it tough,<br />
but more so to join them in their pain and suffering,<br />
to be one with them, hearts joined, their pain is our pain.<br />
<br />
At the outset of his ministry,<br />
Jesus laid out his manifesto of sorts, in which he said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.</blockquote>
<br />
He says to those who have shown such mercy<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Come, you that are blessed by my Father,<br />inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world</blockquote>
<br />
Mercy, true heartfelt, at one with others mercy will receive mercy from him.<br />
<br />
But this goes even deeper that just judgement.<br />
<br />
Look who is speaking.<br />
Look at who is being fed, clothed and cared for.<br />
<br />
It is Jesus.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Truly I tell you,<br />just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,<br />you did it to me.” </blockquote>
<br />
So, on this feast of Christ the King, when we celebrate the exalted Lord,<br />
we are to remember Christ as one of the least.<br />
<br />
And think of Jesus words when questioned about the greatest commandment:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” </blockquote>
<br />
With Jesus self identification with the least, our neighbour, this statement becomes deeper.<br />
<br />
In loving and serving our neighbour, we are loving and serving Christ.<br />
<br />
The two commandments have become one and the same.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.</blockquote>
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It will be in our showing mercy, that we will receive mercy<br />
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orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-74697332733954728192014-11-17T10:26:00.000+11:002015-12-12T13:08:58.541+11:00Sermon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5F9aihQ-dAwYdOVhzekCY-nlRSulSAvIvk3QRbb4szxPW0SO4_7JYtWfrKHCk_wPACmZwpv985XplIA4Gwc4NfooAJqNN2Uf9RheX3apya1EnNIcLcGDrN88H4hwvpI-mWiFDl6t_RT5/s1600/well+done.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5F9aihQ-dAwYdOVhzekCY-nlRSulSAvIvk3QRbb4szxPW0SO4_7JYtWfrKHCk_wPACmZwpv985XplIA4Gwc4NfooAJqNN2Uf9RheX3apya1EnNIcLcGDrN88H4hwvpI-mWiFDl6t_RT5/s1600/well+done.gif" height="215" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Therefore encourage one another and build up each other.</b></div><br />Jesus tells us this parable about the three slaves and their master.<br />He uses the things of the world around him to express a greater truth.<br />He uses the present to express the eternal.<br /><br />He uses these images to express something about the Kingdom:<br />The master is God, we are the slaves.<br /><br />The master is going away<br />and before he leaves he gives his slaves money according to their ability.<br />Some are given more than others.<br />They are to do their best with this money.<br />Invest, build, whatever.<br />It is a gift to them and they are to use it according to their abilities.<br /><br />Two of them do well with this.<br /><br />They use their gifts to increase the amount.<br /><br />The master returns, and they present their results.<br /><br />Here’s the thing.<br /><br />They are given this according to their ability.<br />They are given this to use their gifts.<br />Not someone’s else idea of what their gift is, but their own abilities, strengths.<br /><br />It is their true being,<br />their heart and soul that is being given the opportunity,<br />not their ability to follow instructions,<br />or their ability to please someone else,<br />but it is their very being that is asked to do this.<br /><br />God asks the true self to use its gifts for the growth of the kingdom.<br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things,<br />I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”</blockquote><br />Now I hope that when I die and I am called to give an account of what I did with the gifts that God gave me,<br />that I am able to answer honestly from my true self.<br />I hope that I can say I used the gifts I was given for the good of the kingdom.<br />I hope that I don’t have to make excuses.<br /><br />I hope I don’t hear:<br />“Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things,<br />You have done exactly what the parishes demanded of you.<br />You have done everything that everyone has asked of you,<br />even when they were the opposite of each other.<br />Well done, good and trustworthy slave,<br />you completely lost your true self to the will of a few.<br />I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”<br /><br />That is not what will be said.<br /><br />The point is that God has given us all gifts,<br />and we are to use them for the good of the kingdom, not to keep others happy.<br />We aren’t to lose our true selves.<br />If we lose our very being at the altar of criticism, we have lost everything.<br /><br />Think of the last slave.<br /><br />This is a man who is acting out of fear, or rather inacting out of fear.<br />He hides the gifts given to him.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.</blockquote><br />The problem is he has misread his master.<br />He views him as a figure to fear.<br />And in doing so, he hides the gifts that were entrusted to him.<br /><br />He is more afraid of getting it wrong and getting in trouble than using the gifts that God has given him.<br /><br />How many of us view God like that?<br />How many of us think it is better not to do something in the risk of getting it wrong?<br />How many of us have hidden our gifts because we are afraid that we will get it in the neck?<br /><br />How many in the church are afraid of doing ministry<br />because they think they will be told they aren’t good enough?<br /><br />How many in this congregation hide their gifts from the parish<br /> because they are afraid they will only end up in the middle of some stupid historical battle that no one really understands anymore?<br /><br />How many within this parish bury their gifts<br />because they know if they actually revealed them they would only receive grief and whinging?<br /><br />Is that how it is?<br /><br />Have we all become like the third slave,<br />acting out of fear and hiding our true God given selves in the hope that we just don’t cop a serve if we get it slightly wrong?<br /><br />From my own experience, I can say that is exactly how it feels some days.<br /><br />I am not surprised many have hidden their gifts.<br />The culture of blame, criticism, us and them,<br />all tangled up in a survival mentality has taken a strong root in this parish.<br /><br />It fractures relationships between parishoners and clergy,<br />it limits relationships with the greater community,<br />and nullifies any evangelism and ministry that might take place.<br /><br />More importantly, all this can have a very negative effect on our spirituality.<br />If the church negates our gifts, we start to think of God as being the same way:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, so I was afraid,<br />and I went and hid your talent in the ground. </blockquote><br />In his letter to the Thessalonians,<br />Paul tells them that the God is not about wrath, but about eternal life in Jesus Christ.<br /><br />If the church acts towards those within with wrath, what are we saying about God?<br />What might that look like to those who are not yet with us?<br />It can only reinforce the image of a vengeful God.<br /><br />Paul writes:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other.</blockquote><br />Therefore encourage one another and build up each other.<br />Not criticize and tear down.<br /><br />Everyone has been given gifts by God.<br />Jesus calls us to use them for his kingdom and the building up his body, the church.<br /><br />To bury your gifts in fear is to deny yourself who you really are, and to deny yourself what God has given you.<br /><br />To chastise, criticize, wear down, and complain about someone’s ministry or work is only to deny that person the chance to be who God has called them to be.<br /><br />Paul tells us:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Therefore encourage one another and build up each other.</blockquote><br />It is in doing that that we will be able to be who God has called us to be, so we will hear:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Well done, good and trustworthy slave; enter into the joy of your master</blockquote><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-4664805895670364172014-11-09T13:48:00.000+11:002015-12-12T13:50:06.010+11:00Sermon for the Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.</b></div>
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When I hear of the second coming of Jesus, I think of a few things. </div>
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In my prechristian days, I think I heard about this more than anything. </div>
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I’d see pictures of people with sandwich boards proclaiming “The day is near” or something. </div>
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I thought they were mad. </div>
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To this day, when people carry on about Jesus return, </div>
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I still think they are a bit unbalanced. </div>
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It also reminds me of the Jesus people movement of the 1970s. </div>
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Much of the music that was recorded at that time speaks of Jesus return. </div>
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Nearly every album by these artists will contain a song about Jesus return. </div>
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The two texts that the hippy Christians really responded to were Revelation and the reading we had from 1 Thessalonians today:</div>
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For the Lord himself,<br />with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.<br />Then we who are alive, who are left,<br />will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air;<br />and so we will be with the Lord for ever. </blockquote>
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It is true, we do need to consider this. </div>
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It is something we all believe: </div>
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we say it together in the Creed, </div>
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we acclaim it in the Eucharist, </div>
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so this is not something foreign or wrong. </div>
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It is though, an issue of emphasis. </div>
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The problem is that this has been used as a way of control and keeping people in a state of fear. </div>
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Fear is the best way to control people, as governments past and present know full well. </div>
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Life with Christ should not be based on fear. </div>
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It should be based on love:</div>
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Love of God and love of neighbour.</div>
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So what is Jesus getting at with this parable about the ten maidens.</div>
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We can look at all the details, </div>
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we can question whether the 5 wise ones should have given the oil to the 5 foolish ones. </div>
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We can ask what does that mean for us? </div>
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Should we not share our oil with those who have none? </div>
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Are we to look out for ourselves and not worry about those who can’t, </div>
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for what ever reason?</div>
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All that is is to miss the main point:</div>
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Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.</blockquote>
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Keep awake.</div>
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Be ready.</div>
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Be prepared.</div>
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I was a scout. Be prepared was the motto. </div>
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I can’t exactly remember what that meant as a scout, but it has stayed with me.</div>
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There will be items that you will always have with you. </div>
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Wallet, phone, whatever. </div>
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You know the things you need to have with you so you can do whatever it is you need to do, </div>
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and if there something you might have to do.</div>
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It is those ‘just in case’ things though. </div>
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Back home, there was a rule: always take a coat. </div>
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You never knew how cold it was going to get, or how long you were going to be.</div>
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These days, there are several things I do to always be prepared. </div>
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There are items I always carry with me: </div>
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<ul>
<li>the Scriptures, </li>
<li>the Prayer Book, </li>
<li>Reserved Sacrament, </li>
<li>Oil of the Infirm, </li>
<li>a Stole. </li>
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These are always in my bag, wherever I go. </div>
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So whatever situation I am called into, I have what I need.</div>
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These are practical things.</div>
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We keep our houses tidy in case someone pops around.</div>
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We check how much petrol we have before we go on a long drive.</div>
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Basic stuff.</div>
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We are now being told to get our bushfire plans in place. </div>
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Be prepared.</div>
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Jesus is telling us the same thing, but on a much more serious scale. </div>
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And even more so, he is talking about a constant state of readiness. </div>
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Keep awake.</div>
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What does that really entail for us.</div>
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What is our state of preparedness?</div>
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I think one of the key issues is that this can’t be based out of fear.</div>
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If we only do good because we are scared of being punished, </div>
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because we are scared of not going to heaven, </div>
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then we are missing the point. </div>
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Keeping awake is important for its own sake.</div>
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Being prepared is being awake to God. </div>
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By being awake to others around us, </div>
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we are awake to what God is doing in and around our lives. </div>
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By being awake our hearts are opened to know the pain in other peoples lives, </div>
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to see where God is present to begin his healing work. </div>
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When we are truly awake, we understand that it is through us that this work is done.</div>
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When we are awake, we are prepared. </div>
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We are prepared to see Christ among us, in us, and with us. </div>
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We are awake and prepared when we live our lives loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves</div>
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By keeping awake, we are not only ready to see Jesus when he returns, </div>
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but also our true selves are awoken to know his presence in every moment of our lives. </div>
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We are awoken to the eternal presence of God.</div>
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<br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-52994157687153697572014-11-01T13:36:00.000+11:002015-12-12T13:37:51.699+11:00Sermon for All Saints' Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; </b></div>
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<b>and after he sat down, </b><b>his disciples came to him. </b></div>
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<b>Then he began to speak, </b><b>and taught them</b></div>
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Last week we heard Jesus being tested about what the greatest commandment was, and his masterful answer:<br />
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Love God and your neighbour as yourself. </blockquote>
Jesus reveals that love is the law.<br />
All things must come from love.<br />
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With talk of commandments, when we hear from the gospel today,<br />
we will be struck by the similarities between Jesus and Moses.<br />
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Indeed that is the connection Matthew is making.<br />
As Moses ascended the mountain to speak with God,<br />
Jesus here ascends the mountain and the recently called disciples follow him.<br />
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Matthew is setting this scene as a new beginning.<br />
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But then we hear what Jesus says.<br />
Blessed are the…..<br />
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Compare it with what Moses says when he descends the mountain:<br />
You shall not…. You shall<br />
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And this is why we need to be careful with the Beatitudes.<br />
They are not a list of proscriptive rules or laws.<br />
Many try to turn them into such things, and many interpret them in such a way,<br />
Be merciful.<br />
Be pure.<br />
Be meek.<br />
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This is not how they are to be treated.<br />
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Jesus isn’t telling us how we should be.<br />
Unlike the commandments,<br />
where God through Moses told the people what they should and shouldn’t do, here Jesus is telling us how things actually are.<br />
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Jesus isn’t telling us we should be poor in spirit.<br />
Rather he is telling us how God views those that are.<br />
He is telling us that these are favoured.<br />
God will look after such people.<br />
Everything will be ok.<br />
This is how things actually are, not how we are to be.<br />
Jesus is informing us of the reality, of how God views us, how it actually is.<br />
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But is this the reality we live in?<br />
Is this the reality of our world?<br />
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Look at who is blessed.<br />
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‘Blessed are those who mourn,<br />for they will be comforted.</blockquote>
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Those who mourn for a loved one are generally given a month or so to grieve, then everyone expects them to sort themselves out.<br />
Those who mourn the way things used to be are told to get with the times.<br />
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‘Blessed are the meek,<br />for they will inherit the earth.</blockquote>
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The meek if anything inherit nothing.<br />
The meek are trodden on and seen as weak and useless.<br />
They are ignored, abused and forgotten.<br />
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‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,<br />for they will be filled.</blockquote>
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Those who protest at injustice are seen as troublemakers and lawbreakers.<br />
They are seen as whingers.<br />
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‘Blessed are the merciful,<br />for they will receive mercy.</blockquote>
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To show mercy in the face of wrongdoing is seen as weakness and backing down. It is the giving of power to those who would harm us.<br />
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‘Blessed are the pure in heart,<br />for they will see God.</blockquote>
To be pure of heart is seen as naïve and idealistic.<br />
It is to be a dreamer with no hold on reality.<br />
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‘Blessed are the peacemakers,<br />for they will be called children of God.</blockquote>
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To yearn for peace,<br />
especially at this time is seen to not be part of Team Australia.<br />
It is to be unpatriotic, it is weakness,<br />
it goes against the grain so much that we dare not suggest it as the way to be.<br />
Our world seeks vengeance and violence not peace.<br />
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If we think about it, the world that Jesus is talking about,<br />
and the world we live are two very different things.<br />
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This may indeed be the point.<br />
<br />
Jesus is saying<br />
you lot see the world like this,<br />
a world where being gentle, caring, generous, idealistic, humble, peaceful,<br />
are seen as weakness.<br />
But God see’s these very things as qualities that he blesses.<br />
God favours people who are these things.<br />
<br />
In this way, the beatitudes are a protest against the values of the world,<br />
and statement of the kingdom.<br />
They are what we need to value when we see them in others<br />
<br />
Jesus tells those first disciples the values of the kingdom.<br />
He isn’t commanding them to be like them,<br />
He is telling them to view the meek, the mourning, the merciful,<br />
as God views them.<br />
<br />
On All saint’s Day we are reminded of the very qualities of saints,<br />
qualities that we see in the beatitudes.<br />
Saints are those who hold these qualities<br />
while the world around them does all it can to pull them down. <br />
<br />
The kingdom Jesus is telling us of,<br />
and what he showed us in his life, is a new way of seeing,<br />
and ultimately a radical way of being.<br />
The world may reject those who God blesses,<br />
but we are invited to see the new reality that is coming.<br />
<br />
When we learn to recognise such qualities as being blessed,<br />
when we call those who embody such qualities saints,<br />
we begin to participate in the realisation of the kingdom.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For theirs is the kingdom of God</blockquote>
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orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-55895788681947513602014-10-19T13:20:00.000+11:002015-12-12T13:22:09.535+11:00Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZghgXVKOjb4gSUkzPHt9LtgVf78IQucpIBlmcgYEY36qC77AknCDEQ7Z5Y-27f6jAxiM_7mEpS5Rvj2f0aepIMDljMu2IEbxOdusSgJrLljnLsbSX63gVtwyKHC53Y0zR2ELhtjRu7BW/s1600/10387685_10203848296980535_3581340764145726469_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZghgXVKOjb4gSUkzPHt9LtgVf78IQucpIBlmcgYEY36qC77AknCDEQ7Z5Y-27f6jAxiM_7mEpS5Rvj2f0aepIMDljMu2IEbxOdusSgJrLljnLsbSX63gVtwyKHC53Y0zR2ELhtjRu7BW/s320/10387685_10203848296980535_3581340764145726469_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,</div>
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and to God the things that are God’s.’</div>
<br />
The religious and civic leaders continue to challenge the authority of Jesus.<br />
They are now trying to trick him, to trap him.<br />
They bring up issues from life and scripture that demand an answer.<br />
They are the kind of questions that essentially are lose lose for Jesus.<br />
But, Jesus is far smarter.<br />
<br />
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.<br />
So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying,<br />
Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’<br />
<br />
The Pharisee’s aren’t talking about taxes in general.<br />
They are talking about a particular tax, ‘to the emperor’ tells us that.<br />
Everyone paid all sorts of taxes, Temple tax, land tax, all sorts.<br />
The tax the Pharisees are talking here is the Imperial Tax, ‘to the emperor.’<br />
This was paid to Rome to support the Roman occupation of Israel.<br />
They had to pay a denarius a year to their oppressors.<br />
A denarius a year to keep being oppressed.<br />
<br />
You can imagine that this was highly unpopular.<br />
Most would have resented it. Nationalist zealots in particular.<br />
<br />
The two groups which have conspired on Jesus with this question had very different views on this tax.<br />
<br />
The Herodians were fine with it. They had been put in power by the Romans, so of course it was in their interest to keep the Romans happy.<br />
<br />
The Pharisees on the other hand had a trickier relationship with this tax.<br />
The tax had to be paid with a coin engraved with a picture of Ceasar, which also stated his divinity. This is of course a problem for those so religiously devout: just having this coin breaks the first two commandments:<br />
<br />
You shall have no other gods before me.<br />
You shall not make for yourself an idol<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So you can see what is happening.<br />
This tax was a controversial issue.<br />
Most were opposed to it, so if Jesus says they have to pay it,<br />
he will be offside with the crowd.<br />
He will be seen as supporting the oppression.<br />
<br />
If he says they don’t have to pay it,<br />
he will immediately be in trouble with the authorities.<br />
<br />
The two groups who have bought this question to him don’t agree on what the right answer is either.<br />
The only thing they agree on is that they want this trouble maker gone.<br />
<br />
But Jesus, aware of their malice, said,<br />
‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’<br />
<br />
This is the first bit of brilliance.<br />
He gets them to hand over the coin.<br />
By doing so, they reveal their own complicity in the system.<br />
He also reveals that he is not. He does not have a coin to show.<br />
At this very moment, their plan to trap him begins to unravel.<br />
You can almost hear the gasp of the crowd.<br />
<br />
If this handing over of the coin wasn’t enough, he makes it clear.<br />
<br />
‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’<br />
<br />
They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’<br />
Their answer tells everyone they know exactly who is on the coin, what is written on it, and therefore not only are they complicit in the system, they are in fact breaking their own rules by doing so.<br />
The coin carries a graven image, and states the divinity of emperor.<br />
Two commandments broken.<br />
And the fact they can name this, means they can’t plead ignorance.<br />
<br />
Their plan is now gone.<br />
Their trick is over.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Then he said to them,<br />
‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,<br />
and to God the things that are God’s.’<br />
<br />
<br />
So what is the emperors and what is God’s?<br />
Taxes, rates, all those things are dreadful.<br />
None of us like paying them.<br />
But, we have to.<br />
Even if we don’t like the government, or agree with what they are doing, we have to pay our taxes.<br />
That is the emperors.<br />
A small or sometimes not so small part of our money.<br />
<br />
To start carrying on about not paying them suggests something else. It suggest the idea a few more dollars as being of supreme value.<br />
It tells of what is in the heart.<br />
Give to the emperor what is the emperors. Don’t let that become your big issue. Don’t let holding on to a bit of cash become what is imprinted on your heart.<br />
For where your heart is, there will your treasure be also<br />
Your heart, your whole being belongs to God.<br />
Give to God the things that are Gods.<br />
<br />
While the emperors image is on the coin, God’s image is in us.<br />
We are created in God’s image.<br />
Give to God what is God’s.<br />
<br />
<br />
This ends up going deeper than about a coin, money, or taxes.<br />
In his this statement Jesus reminds that we are God’s, and that we are to give ourselves, our time, our minds, and our hearts to him.<br />
Give the government its tax, but give your whole life to God.<br />
Be in the world, but not of the world.<br />
<br />
Jesus is setting the Pharisees straight about their hypocrisy, and in doing so he sets them onto a higher way of thinking.<br />
<br />
He says the same to us.<br />
‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,<br />
and to God the things that are God’s.’<br />
<br />
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orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-92134259722100327482014-10-06T11:56:00.000+11:002015-12-12T13:08:58.625+11:00Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbi9cJD2u9o_qZJY6vBtSErSvRl6w1aWvWsR-GdVYxMzbkLXVGgwldLYPiVzaesKDfgI3ivskeDcX_lUno9QzbbYBEcfLiIY5g3AmLiZ9xMKNqarE7vvdy94VvP7CRdgRYVGOVl2Z0ZSw/s1600/10628177_10203726124766306_2240813031156625853_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBbi9cJD2u9o_qZJY6vBtSErSvRl6w1aWvWsR-GdVYxMzbkLXVGgwldLYPiVzaesKDfgI3ivskeDcX_lUno9QzbbYBEcfLiIY5g3AmLiZ9xMKNqarE7vvdy94VvP7CRdgRYVGOVl2Z0ZSw/s1600/10628177_10203726124766306_2240813031156625853_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The stone that the builders rejected</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> has become the cornerstone;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>this was the Lord’s doing,</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> and it is amazing in our eyes</b></div><br />In the parable we hear today, Jesus is telling as an allegory of God’s work within Israel.<br />He uses images from the prophet Isaiah and the Psalms to tell the religious leaders what has happened, what is going to happen, and how this is going to effect them.<br /><br />On the surface, it seems to be quite straightforward, but a closer look reveals what Jesus says is far more potent, and also raises some difficult questions for the church today.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. </blockquote><br />This imagery comes from the Isaiah reading from earlier:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Let me sing for my beloved<br /> my love-song concerning his vineyard:<br />My beloved had a vineyard<br /> on a very fertile hill.<br />He dug it and cleared it of stones,<br /> and planted it with choice vines;<br />he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,<br /> and hewed out a wine vat in it.</blockquote><br />The beloved is God, and the vineyard is Israel.<br /><br />Jesus is setting the scene for the religious leaders, so they know exactly what he is talking about. There would be no question in their minds about what he is talking about:<br /> it is about God and Israel.<br /><br />Two sets of slaves are sent to collect the produce:<br />The first set of three, one is beaten, one killed, one stoned.<br />The second set is larger, and is treated in the same violent way.<br />These slaves represent the prophets who were ignored by the religious leaders at the time.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The landowner sends his son, and they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him</blockquote><br />The son is Jesus, and this fortells his crucifixion.<br /><br />We have to look at the owner of the vineyard here.<br />He sends a delegation and they are killed.<br />A normal human reaction to that would have been to send an army to sort this out.<br />But he doesn’t.<br />He doesn’t react with violence.<br /><br />He sends another delegation.<br />When they are killed, surely his response should be ‘they’ve had one chance, now I’ll send in the army and get them out of my land.’<br /><br />But it isn’t.<br />He send his son, the heir.<br />This is not a normal reaction.<br />After two sets of horrific violence and death inflicted on your people, why would you send your son?<br />Surely now would be the time for vengeance.<br /><br />The son is killed.<br />Jesus puts it to the chief priests and elders:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ </blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">They said to him,<br />‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’</blockquote><br />The chief priests and elders react as we would expect.<br />Jesus does not supply this answer.<br />It is the chief priest and elders.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:<br />“The stone that the builders rejected<br /> has become the cornerstone;<br />this was the Lord’s doing,<br /> and it is amazing in our eyes”? </blockquote><br />He questions their response.<br />He doesn’t agree with them.<br />He doesn’t condone the violent response at all.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Have you never read in the scriptures.<br />“The stone that the builders rejected<br /> has become the cornerstone;<br />this was the Lord’s doing,<br /> and it is amazing in our eyes”? </blockquote><br />God didn’t retaliate with violence.<br />Instead he sent his son to die, the stone the builders rejected.<br />He was raised, he became the cornerstone<br /><br />This is a different way of authority and power.<br />It shuns violence and aggression and revenge.<br /><br />Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.<br /><br />Jesus is saying to the chief priest and elders<br />that because they are still clinging to power and authority,<br />they can’t see how God might be working in a way that does not take life,<br />but rather gives life.<br />They can’t see how their use and abuse of their authority is actually keeping God out.<br /><br /><br />The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.<br /><br />This is a message for the church today.<br />We don’t stumble over the block that is Christ, the cornerstone.<br /><br />We stumble when we follow the way of the elder and chief priests.<br />We stumble when we strive to hold on to authority and power.<br />We stumble when we embrace the way the world understands power<br />rather than the way of God,<br />God who showed us the ultimate power when his son gave his life on the cross.<br />God who showed real power is not life taking, but life giving<br />when his son was resurrected to new life, a life in which we all share.<br /><br />Jesus tells us that the kingdom will be taken from us if we continue to act out of power instead of love, compassion and selflessness.<br /><br />The stone that the builders rejected<br /> has become the cornerstone<br /><br />The cornerstone of the faith that is borne out of love, and forgiveness, not power, control and violence.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZE07Z_WE6YI/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/ZE07Z_WE6YI?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/ZE07Z_WE6YI?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br /><div><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-86321072998638064202014-09-29T11:29:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.653+11:00Sermon for the Feast of St Michael<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyLek_UjIje4jkKkkYg8KmutuXhXyIaJ2gpuxo4F9J0r9WfvtM4i44QJGAcf63hnxkppnpiSPUjc5-A9TY0OSave02Hv4vMiQC2AiqLtkU12ZUO8qtRLo8uMVdW9NK2TikrIbYhyphenhyphenVmxYr/s1600/10646916_10203683348256920_810151133529936581_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyLek_UjIje4jkKkkYg8KmutuXhXyIaJ2gpuxo4F9J0r9WfvtM4i44QJGAcf63hnxkppnpiSPUjc5-A9TY0OSave02Hv4vMiQC2AiqLtkU12ZUO8qtRLo8uMVdW9NK2TikrIbYhyphenhyphenVmxYr/s1600/10646916_10203683348256920_810151133529936581_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>You will see greater things than these. </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>And he said to him,<br />‘Very truly, I tell you,<br />you will see heaven opened<br />and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’<br /><br />In John’s Gospel, when Jesus says, very truly, what comes after is something very important.<br />It is normally something prophetic,<br />something he is going to do,<br />or something that is going to happen top him.<br /><br />These very truly I tell you statements usually end a discussion.<br />They are the final say on what has gone before.<br /><br />Today’s ends chapter one of John’s Gospel.<br />We have had the prologue, the wonderful almost creedlike introduction.<br />We have heard about Jesus’ baptism.<br />We have seen how Jesus called the first disciples:<br />What are you looking for?<br />Come and see.<br /><br />Nathanael makes the proclamation of Jesus divinity, based on Jesus seemingly clairvoyant ability.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Where did you come to know me?’<br />Jesus answered,<br />‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’<br />You will see greater things than these.</blockquote><br />Look out.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">you will see heaven opened<br />and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man</blockquote><br />This phrase “angels of God ascending and descending” is unusual.<br />It occurs only in one other place in all the scriptures, Genesis chapter 28.<br />Jesus is using this strange phrase to tell us something. The passage it comes from is helpful.<br /><br />Genesis chapter 28 tells us the story of Jacob<br /><br />Jacob has left Beer Sheba, and is on his way to Haran.<br />He lays down for the night. He takes a stone and uses it for a pillow.<br />He has a dream.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven;<br />and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.</blockquote><br />God speaks to him in the dream, promising him the land where he is forever,<br /><br />I am with you and will keep you wherever you go<br /><br />Jacob wakes up and says:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’<br />‘How awesome is this place!<br />This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’</blockquote><br />The idea of angels ascending and descending is one of a gate of heaven, or heaven being opened.<br />It is a place where there is no division between us and God,<br />where communication, contact are open.<br />The angels are Gods messengers, they are also the symbols of holiness and divinity.<br />It is they who show us that this gate is open, that heaven is opened.<br />They are the markers of such an event.<br /><br />Why would Jesus use this same image to express what is about to occur.<br /><br />Notice in Jacob’s dream, the angels are ascending and descending on a ladder.<br />When Jesus tells us, it on him.<br /><br />Jesus is the ladder that the angels will ascend and descend upon.<br />For Jacob, it was the stone on which he lay his head, the place was the gate of heaven.<br /><br />Jesus tells us that he is that gate:<br /><br />As he will say in chapter 10,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">I am the gate.<br />Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.</blockquote>The angels of god will ascend and descend upon him, not a ladder.<br />He is the link between heaven and earth.<br />He is the way the things of heaven will now come down to earth.<br />He is also the way the things of earth are shown in heaven.<br /><br />Where with Jacob, this reality was in a place,<br />and was made sacred by his anointing the stone with oil, making an altar,<br />Jesus is saying that he is supercedes this.<br /><br />By using this phrase, the angels of God ascending and descending,<br />Jesus is telling Nathanael, that he is the way to know of God.<br /><br />Those same words can still have the same effect today.<br />To people who do not know Jesus Christ, but who know of the presence of angels in their lives.<br /><br />To a world that is more comfortable speaking about angels than it is about the Son of Man,<br />these words of Jesus are a reminder.<br />To a church that is afraid of speaking about other beliefs,<br />these words are a reminder.<br /><br />These words tell us that angels work with Jesus and us.<br />Angels are not outside of our faith, they are a part of it.<br /><br />They tell those who don’t know Christ, that the angels they speak with most certainly do,<br />and in fact are doing his work.<br /><br />It is my belief that as Jesus is the ladder between heaven and earth,<br />angels are the bridge between the world and the church,<br />a middle ground, a meeting place to speak with such people.<br /><br />But for today, we celebrate Michael and All Angels.<br />We celebrate their being with us, and we worship God with them, as we say every week:<br />“with angels and archangels, we worship you Father, in songs of never ending praise”<br /><br />And as our collect for today says:<br /><br />as your holy angels stand before you in heaven,<br />so at your command<br />they may help and defend us here on earth.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/z9miaMpSssg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-70055747489916756642014-09-14T11:47:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.685+11:00Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HEeRyXF1E6KHbmbujXYk7L7QA3mftez-zQYGA00Bz100tCzH69tEf7KGZrInSChz_9D7RE0c7GhcnFR8Ddqh6W65MbhITPZz4GtQlMwddMhwTApACu0LfDyNNrRqteupMFwBe4MvN7ER/s1600/10551096_10203592749552009_7343212331775903619_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HEeRyXF1E6KHbmbujXYk7L7QA3mftez-zQYGA00Bz100tCzH69tEf7KGZrInSChz_9D7RE0c7GhcnFR8Ddqh6W65MbhITPZz4GtQlMwddMhwTApACu0LfDyNNrRqteupMFwBe4MvN7ER/s1600/10551096_10203592749552009_7343212331775903619_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To follow Jesus, we are to deny ourselves, and take up our cross.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As God goes to such extreme lengths to find us, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">we are to go to the same extreme lengths not to lose anyone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These issues, denial of self and not losing relationships, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">with others and with God, come together in one thing: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">forgiveness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How many times?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What are the limits?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Give me a law and a judgement that I can work with.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I get this forgiving thing, it’s radical, this can change the world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But there has to be a point where we stop. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Tell me boss, where is that point.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What is the point where I can revert to the old way.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Where is the point where it becomes allowable for me to start paying back.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As many as seven times?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That is quite a bit of forgiving.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Seven times someone sins against you and you should forgive them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Peter thinks that seems a reasonable amount.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Not so.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lets not get carried away with the number.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus answer tells us that the idea of a number of times isn’t the point.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But it does recall Cain and Abel, Genesis 4. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lamech, Cain’s descendent exclaims that after he has killed a man, </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If Cain is avenged sevenfold,<br /> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These numbers are being used to show something, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">the actual numerical value is not important.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lamech is talking about unlimited revenge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus is speaking about unlimited forgiveness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To quote Dr Moulton:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">“Jesus pointedly sets against the natural man’s craving for seventy sevenfold revenge, the spiritual man’s ambition to exercise the privilege of seventy seven fold forgiveness.”</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus then tells us a Kingdom parable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A slave owes a king a ridiculous amount of money. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The amount is astronomical. He can’t pay the king the money, the king orders him and his family and all his possessions to be sold.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">“Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.”<br />And out of pity for him,<br />the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The slave is given his freedom and all his debt is forgiven.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He goes out and find a fellow slave who owes him a much smaller amount, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">grabs him by the throat and demands his money.</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">“Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The fellow slave uses the same words.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No go. He is thrown into jail.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Other slaves see this and go and tell the king who then says to him:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.<br />Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?<br />And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured<br />until he should pay his entire debt. </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And here comes the sting in the tale:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,<br />if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Forgiving is not always easy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If we are people of unforgiveness, we can’t expect God to be forgiving to us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This same God who will search us out when we are lost </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">and rejoice when he does, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">will not be rejoicing if we do not show the same love and forgiveness to others.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We are to forgive as we are forgiven:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Lord’s prayer in which we ask God to </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When we hold on to anger, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">thoughts of revenge, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">of putting people in their place, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">of seeking power over others, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">of asserting our dominance, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">we are acting out of place not of forgiveness </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">but of selfishness, ego, power, and ultimately darkness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Forgiveness is not easy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I don’t think it supposed to be. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I dare say all of us have some part of hearts that is refusing to let go of some hurt or slight that has been done to us.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some part of our hearts that can’t let go of some resentment </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">or anger toward another person.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yet, we work our way around it, justifying to ourselves why we still hold on to it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A lack of forgiveness can destroy friendships, marriages, and parishes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus tells us it can also destroy our relationship with God.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus tells us that we face the same trial the unforgiving servant went through </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus is calling us to be people of forgiveness. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There will be times we get it wrong and don’t forgive when we should.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We always get another chance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The idea here is that we become forgiving. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That forgiveness is part of our whole being.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From the heart. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We can think of it as a sort of purification: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When we don’t forgive, we keep our hearts impure. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Maybe this is what Jesus means when he speaks about how we will be punished if we don’t forgive.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus is saying that it is impossible to have a complete relationship with God </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">if we can’t forgive.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus is saying if our relationships with each other are darkened by a lack of forgiveness, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">our relationship with God will suffer in the same way.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So when Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jesus turns it on him by using a ridiculous amount of times.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He is saying that as God’s forgiveness in unlimited, so too should ours.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He is saying as we have been forgiven, so too should we forgive others.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From our hearts.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZJvo_bnk5Ds/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/ZJvo_bnk5Ds?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/ZJvo_bnk5Ds?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-84027923735232785082014-09-07T17:47:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.709+11:00Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWx6zwpJUG-rFhIu5dV17fYcwQFfjG4zBFerVgmWYveFEwqvZSiaqqjPXo_nMh91v06QjQUx99dOV-_Fs_kgJS1ql79Q11i7D1ZV2Z1-2xMede5hP1WFS6zQytNRukwjJQVQu10f2J_6Z_/s1600/10678544_10203553210803565_5415364603598477382_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWx6zwpJUG-rFhIu5dV17fYcwQFfjG4zBFerVgmWYveFEwqvZSiaqqjPXo_nMh91v06QjQUx99dOV-_Fs_kgJS1ql79Q11i7D1ZV2Z1-2xMede5hP1WFS6zQytNRukwjJQVQu10f2J_6Z_/s1600/10678544_10203553210803565_5415364603598477382_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.</b></div><br />Jesus calls us to follow him<br />and he gives us some of the instructions about how we can do that.<br />Deny ourselves of ourselves and be prepared to sacrifice.<br /><br />He then tells us about the other side of the deal.<br />We do our bit, and he does his.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray,<br />does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? </blockquote><br />Of course we are the sheep Jesus is speaking of.<br />Those who have denied themselves, and taken up their cross and followed him.<br /><br />But sometimes we get it wrong.<br />We fall into sin, or to get it closer, we miss the mark.<br />We get it wrong.<br />We fall into ways of being that aren’t about loving God or our neighbour.<br />We fall into ways that aren’t about denying ourselves or carrying our crosses.<br />We start to see power as something to use and abuse<br />and we start to see some as ‘the other.’<br />We fall into the ways of the world and leave behind the ways of the kingdom.<br /><br />We become the sheep that has gone astray.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? </blockquote><br />We may lose our way, but God does not want to lose us.<br />Nothing can separate us from the love of God.<br /><br />None of this is to say that we can do what ever we want and everything be fine.<br /><br />We can get great comfort from all this.<br /><br />Even when we get it wrong,<br />God will come after us, give us clip around the ear,<br />then give us a big hug.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">And if he finds it, truly I tell you,<br />he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. </blockquote><br />God rejoices in finding us.<br />Like the prodigal son, he rejoices, in the one who was lost being found.<br /><br />God will go to extreme lengths to find those who are lost,<br />and I can speak from my own experience that he searched long and hard.<br />I was lost and was found, and I thank him everyday for not giving up.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.</blockquote><br />Then Jesus explains to us how we should sort out our differences.<br />This can seem somewhat jarring after the beauty of the shepherd image.<br /><br />He outlines a three step process.<br />If member of the church sins against you, the first step is to sort it out one on one.<br />Don’t involve anyone else, the two of you sort it out.<br />Most problems will be sorted out at this point.<br /><br />However if that doesn’t work,<br />take someone else from the church with you as a witness.<br />This is basic mediation.<br />By taking someone else along,<br />both sides of the story are heard by someone not involved.<br />This should sort out most issues,<br />and only needs to be used in those that aren’t sorted out one on one.<br /><br />Now if it doesn’t get sorted with mediation, it becomes a big deal.<br />The whole church gets involved.<br /><br />Can you imagine the seriousness of the issue if it gets to this point?<br />We are dealing with issues of abuse, theft, serious stuff.<br />This is not for a personal slight or difference of opinion.<br />This is serious.<br /><br />It is made even more serious that in the event of the person not listening to even the church:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector</blockquote>They are to be removed from the church.<br />This is no small thing. This not to be done lightly.<br /><br />The seriousness of this is made clearer when we think back to the lengths that God will go to find one that has gone astray.<br /><br />If God goes to such lengths, are we not also to avoid losing someone?<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,<br />and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. </blockquote><br />That should let us know how serious it would be to removed someone from the church.<br />If we loose someone from the church, we loose them from heaven.<br />By excluding someone from the church, we exclude them from God.<br /><br />That is definitely not something we should ever be comfortable in doing,<br />and it really makes the seriousness of what we do here real.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">For where two or three are gathered in my name,<br />I am there among them.’</blockquote>Jesus tells us of his presence where two or more are together.<br />He is with us when we gather.<br />If we exclude someone, we effectively take them out of God’s presence.<br /><br />The image Jesus gave us of the shepherd who will go to any length to find the lost should be enough to tell us of how important we are to God.<br />Here Jesus reminds us of the importance of not losing anyone.<br />He is telling us the lengths we should go to not lose anyone from the church.<br /><br />The shepherd rejoices in finding what went astray.<br />We too should rejoice in not losing anyone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6pb6ET50Qfc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-47500072616014856682014-08-31T12:26:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.743+11:00Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SbXWUEag6-703q7j9RnkqMJ4M0X9ikuc9OpTK3njCYxxD8eaGab15ppdfPVU9QDMpAI7sbIgqrM2rvYorKHopIUW9Ky4b5U8rARkstxhmtNtBl18WasqTJVjwttZxOvy1-mnaMiyHAcF/s1600/10427244_10203495880850352_5463827356482224512_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SbXWUEag6-703q7j9RnkqMJ4M0X9ikuc9OpTK3njCYxxD8eaGab15ppdfPVU9QDMpAI7sbIgqrM2rvYorKHopIUW9Ky4b5U8rARkstxhmtNtBl18WasqTJVjwttZxOvy1-mnaMiyHAcF/s1600/10427244_10203495880850352_5463827356482224512_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>‘If any want to become my followers, </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. </b></div><br />Jesus has asked the disciples who they say that he is.<br />Peter answers that He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.<br />He is rewarded for the answer, and is told that he is the rock on which the church will be built.<br /><br />Everything is going well.<br /><br />Then<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">From that time on,<br />Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem<br />and undergo great suffering at the hands of<br />the elders and chief priests and scribes,<br />and be killed,<br />and on the third day be raised. </blockquote><br />Imagine what is going through the disciple’s heads at this point.<br /><br />What?<br />He teaches us the way of God’s kingdom, he heals the sick, he feeds the hungry out of nothing. He walks on water. He can do anything. He isn’t just some guy, he is the Son of God.<br />Now he thinks he has to be killed by the religious leaders.<br />We warned him that he was causing trouble with them.<br />Surely he doesn’t have to be killed by them?<br />There must be something he can do.<br />There must be something we can do.<br /><br />Peter, who has just been praised so highly, and given the most significant role of the disciples, thinks he must do something. He speaks for the group.<br />He pulls Jesus aside.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ </blockquote>No Jesus, you’ve got it wrong. You are catastrophizing things. This isn’t what the father expects of you. You have misheard or something.<br /><br />Peter thinks he is doing the right thing,<br />but he is in fact actually going along with the very powers that Jesus is challenging.<br /><br />He is entering in on the issue on a human level not a divine level.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">But Jesus turned and said to Peter,<br />‘Get behind me, Satan!<br />You are a stumbling-block to me; </blockquote><br />Peter is the rock on which the church will be built, but now he has become a stumbling block.<br />He is called Satan because what he has said is like what Satan said to Jesus in the desert.<br />He is pushing a human agenda, not divine one.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’</blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Then Jesus told his disciples,<br />‘If any want to become my followers,<br />let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. </blockquote>Now we get to the real tough stuff.<br />It was fine and well Jesus saying he was going to suffer,<br />but now he is saying that any who want to follow him must be prepared to do so too.<br /><br />Deny themselves.<br /><br />Deny themselves what exactly?<br />Themselves.<br />To deny oneself of oneself.<br />To give up your own idea of who you are and find instead who you are in Christ.<br /><br />The idea of giving up an aspect of ourselves doesn’t come easy.<br />Jesus is calling us to give up the things that we think are important,<br /> and replace them with things God thinks are important.<br />Jesus is calling us to give up the things of the world and replace them with the things of God.<br />We are called to live differently than the world,<br />and that means not following the way of the world, but the way of Jesus.<br /><br />And that is the way of the cross.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Take up your cross and follow me.</blockquote>What is the cross that Jesus talks of?<br /><br />Jesus he will take up his cross and he will be killed,<br />Revealing to everyone how the world acts in the face of love,<br />How power responds when it is challenged by peace.<br />He also reveals the futility and impotence of such powers by raising from the death they inflicted upon him.<br />The way of the world is no match for the power of God.<br /><br />The cross we must take up is similar.<br />We will all have our own personal crosses,<br />some known to all, others between yourselves and God.<br /><br />But as Christians, and as a church we have a cross to bear,<br />and it is borne by following in the footsteps of Christ.<br /><br />When we act out of a position that seeks power and control,<br />we are working with the same powers that sentenced Jesus to death.<br /><br />To carry the cross means to resist the allure of power and control.<br />It means to surrender our own desires for power,<br />and to not fall into the way of the world.<br /><br />The world tried to kill the way of God by putting his son on a cross.<br />When we act to gain power, collude with power over those who are weak,<br />when we seek to dominate,<br />we are not carrying our cross,<br />but are carrying the nails to crucify others.<br /><br />To surrender to the allure of power and control is the opposite of denying ourselves,<br />it is the opposite of carrying our cross,<br />it is the opposite of following Jesus.<br /><br />We are to deny our desire for power.<br />When we do, we are following the way of the cross, we are following Jesus.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZoFtThbQ7WA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-70575367487812112202014-08-25T10:19:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.765+11:00Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AfGEH0qQNQJ-4LyFVFdT5_bC5mLfOt3RVWzsDtL1oO9zDlFKhd8Zmx8xR00Ap8Qk-HSImg5NTaep6-5-W5DzDaE5Rfgr4HIecYsCq5Gz1cF03Kg8ZQmhC5_OTqdqwKcoarFQq1eRAND5/s1600/10482427_10203444174637729_6122044223603544672_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AfGEH0qQNQJ-4LyFVFdT5_bC5mLfOt3RVWzsDtL1oO9zDlFKhd8Zmx8xR00Ap8Qk-HSImg5NTaep6-5-W5DzDaE5Rfgr4HIecYsCq5Gz1cF03Kg8ZQmhC5_OTqdqwKcoarFQq1eRAND5/s1600/10482427_10203444174637729_6122044223603544672_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Who do you say that I am?</b></div><br />This is such a simple question, yet the answer is not quite that simple.<br /><br />Where and when Jesus asks this question are important in the whole narrative:<br /><br />Think about what has happened:<br />He has healed many people.<br />He feed over 5000 with just 5 fish and two loaves.<br />He has walked on water.<br />He has challenged the religious leaders.<br />He has been challenged by a foreign woman, an outsider.<br /><br />Up until that moment, his mission was for the ‘lost sheep of Israel.’<br />The healings, the feedings were for them.<br />After the Canaanite woman’s challenge, he begins to heal Gentiles.<br />There is another miraculous feeding, this time for all people, not just ‘the lost sheep of Israel.’<br /><br />Jesus mission has become bigger than he initially thought.<br />It is time to reassess. It is time to take stock of the situation.<br /><br />He takes his group of followers with him to Ceasarea Phillipi.<br />This was the regional headquarters of the Roman Empire.<br />If Canberra is Rome, this is like going to outside the local MP’s office.<br />He does this for a reason. He is asking them about who is the most important.<br />Is it the religious leaders?<br />He has challenged them, and the disciples, while a bit scared, have continued to follow him.<br />Is it then the civic leaders?<br />Who is then?<br /> <br />So, things are changing.<br /><br />Jesus wants to know:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ </blockquote>He is asking the disciples: what are you hearing about me?<br />What is being said about me when I am not around?<br />What is being asked about me?<br />With all that I am doing and saying, what is the impression I am making on all the people.<br />Now that it is not just the lost sheep of Israel, but all people, who do they say that I am?<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">And they said,<br />‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah,<br />and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ </blockquote><br />None of these are right. They all fall short of the mark.<br />They all recognise something of who Jesus is, but not the whole picture.<br /><br />Who do people say Jesus is today?<br />He is a baby that is talked about along with Santa in December.<br />He is a guy who lived a long time ago who said a lot of stuff that sounds good, but doesn’t really work in everyday life.<br />He is man who millions of people carry on about, but don’t really follow.<br /><br />I am not sure whether most people get who Jesus is.<br />I am not sure whether we do a very good job of letting them know.<br /><br />Those who don’t know Jesus will get to know who he is by how they see him portrayed by those who claim to follow him.<br /><br />When the church sits by and does nothing to help those in trouble,<br />what impression of Jesus are the public going to get?<br />When the church abuses its own people and abuses it’s power,<br />what will people think Jesus is like?<br /> <br />So, Jesus has heard from the disciples who everyone else thinks he is.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">But who do you say that I am?’</blockquote>You who have been with me, who have witnessed all that has happened, who have talked with me, who have shared in my life, who do you think I am ?<br /><br />You can feel the tension.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ </blockquote>Peter gets it right.<br />Jesus is the Son of God.<br />He isn’t just some prophet or man who does good, he is the Messiah, the anointed one.<br />He is fully human and fully divine.<br /><br />Who do you say Jesus is?<br /><br />We say a whole bunch of stuff about him today, especially after the sermon when we affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed.<br /><br />What Peter confessed, we will confess.<br /><br />Who do you say Jesus is?<br /><br />Who is he?<br />Who has he been in your life?<br /><br />Is he the one who saved you?<br />Is he the one who stayed with you when everyone else left?<br />Is he the one who was with you when it seemed that there was nothing worth living for?<br />Is the one who healed you of your pain?<br />Is he the one who feeds you spiritually so you can carry on?<br /><br />Who you say Jesus is will largely depend on your own life and experience.<br /><br />Ultimately, the answer will be our lives.<br /><br />The way we live, the way we treat others, the way we respond to what happens.<br />The way we live, the way we treat others is really who we say Jesus is.<br />We are saying this is how Jesus is, this is what Jesus does.<br /><br />When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">And Jesus answered him,<br />And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church</blockquote>We can pray for a time when there will be no need for anyone to ask who Jesus is,<br />because everyone will know.<br />Everyone will know who he is through the actions of his body, the church.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Bhd82cb6ck?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-8786167202992136182014-08-17T21:07:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.799+11:00Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc1byQc2dKclNSYWTVTb_pfG2sHMA0Rk2FCZyVeDlXX7hLQUq1M6-_WVGMC0309xvVs9knQDd8PtRqkUe3d6psp43bj29eapne9zJUBofCPpoci37OTAHGlEwAIoNoCmwnEJ_VM6O6klJT/s1600/10590529_10203405918521350_6090870314835027936_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc1byQc2dKclNSYWTVTb_pfG2sHMA0Rk2FCZyVeDlXX7hLQUq1M6-_WVGMC0309xvVs9knQDd8PtRqkUe3d6psp43bj29eapne9zJUBofCPpoci37OTAHGlEwAIoNoCmwnEJ_VM6O6klJT/s1600/10590529_10203405918521350_6090870314835027936_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>'Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.'</b></div><br />The two events we have heard today seem to be unrelated.<br /><br />Firstly, Jesus puts it straight to the Pharisees that they have got it wrong.<br />He says all their rules about how to go about things are upside down.<br />What you eat, washing of hands, these are not the things that defile.<br />Rather it is what happens in here, the heart that will.<br />It is our intentions that will either defile us, or make us pure.<br />Jesus will say,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.</blockquote>In the second story, we hear about the Canaanite woman.<br />She is desperate to save her possessed daughter.<br />She hassles Jesus and the disciples.<br />Jesus tells her he is not interested.<br />She challenges him, and he recognises her faith, and heals her daughter.<br /><br />But look at the disciples in these two events:<br />Hear what they says when Jesus attacks the Pharisees:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?</blockquote>Hear what they say about the Canaanite woman:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.</blockquote>In these two events we see how the church reacts to power and weakness.<br />In these two events, we see how the church reacts to those who are in and those who are out.<br />In these two events, we also see how we are supposed to be, in the actions of Jesus.<br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?</blockquote><br />Watch out Jesus. Keep your voice down. You are saying things that are really going to put us offside.<br />Be careful what you say.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.</blockquote>Jesus, can you get rid of this foreigner. She is causing a scene. This is not helpful.<br />Stand up for the chosen…<br /><br />The disciples are interested in keeping on good terms with power and authority.<br />They are not interested in a foreign woman who seems to be barking mad.<br /><br />Their words of concern are about upsetting the powers that be.<br />Their words of anger are about keeping an outsider out.<br /><br />To me this is how the church still works.<br />We are afraid of upsetting the wrong people.<br />We are afraid of speaking about something that may get us offside with the powers.<br />There are subjects we avoid speaking about because we don’t want to offend.<br />We suck up to the council, the government, prominent business owners, wealthy neighbours.<br />We don’t want to rock the boat.<br /><br />When we side with the authorities on issues that go against the teachings of Jesus,<br />we are being like the disciples here.<br />We are not living or speaking the gospel,<br />we are living and speaking out of a different place.<br />A place that keeps our position of privilege.<br /><br />And when we wish to shun the outsider,<br />when we wish that person would not cause trouble,<br />when we wish that person would just leave us alone and shut up,<br />we become like disiciples with the Canaanite woman.<br /><br />When someone asks for our help, even if they cause a scene,<br />we don’t need to tell them to go away,<br />but rather, ask them to come in.<br /><br />Instead of looking at the disciples reactions,<br />we can look at those of the Pharisees and the Canaanite woman, how they react to Jesus.<br /><br />The Pharisees are upset with what he is saying.<br />He is threatening to them.<br />He challenges all they are, he challenges their position, power, and authority.<br />Their reaction is one of fear, fear that will eventually crucify him.<br /><br />But the Canaanite woman’s reaction is one of faith:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David”</blockquote>She recognises Jesus as Lord, even as an outsider.<br />She responds to the presence of Christ with overwhelming hope and faith.<br />Her situation is desperate, and she believes that Jesus is the one who can fix it.<br /><br />We as disciples have to look where we stand.<br />We can’t stand by those in authority who would shun those who don’t fit in,<br />who make people lives more difficult.<br />We can’t be scared to stand up to them.<br />WE need to be careful that we don’t stand up for them against those who are abused by them.<br /><br />Our place is to be with the Canaanite woman.<br />To respond to the first steps of faith.<br />She comes with faith, and her faith pays off. Her daughter is healed.<br /><br />When someone makes those first steps, we can’t be like the disciples.<br />People come with all volumes, ideas, attitudes.<br />What they wear, what they say, the way they say it is of no difference to us.<br />The fact that they make those first steps toward Christ does make a difference.<br /><br />We can’t be saying Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.<br />But rather “great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish’<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/N8esdGYfzcU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-78982361100427275712014-08-10T18:14:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.821+11:00Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo51tAZkq1Gb_VCdCC2EzijXssoMCpODhvSuEVNqUEpQnI8iUppe8oJZGC46wjJwr357kXAAdnJI1t6gv5L1S1LIiAX6Tnih79PWzm8InnUatYiAft6N82dPjcfgdUindxpq75a_gtVIJ/s1600/10366091_10203343723046502_6076725764147047768_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWo51tAZkq1Gb_VCdCC2EzijXssoMCpODhvSuEVNqUEpQnI8iUppe8oJZGC46wjJwr357kXAAdnJI1t6gv5L1S1LIiAX6Tnih79PWzm8InnUatYiAft6N82dPjcfgdUindxpq75a_gtVIJ/s1600/10366091_10203343723046502_6076725764147047768_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’</b></div><br />The story of Jesus walking on the water is even more well known than the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.<br />Many theories have been put up about how he did this: sandbanks, lowtide, stepping stones.<br />And like when we discussed the loaves and fishes, the how doesn’t matter. It really is of no interest.<br /><br />Even the fact that Jesus is walking on water isn’t the main point of this story.<br />It is the central figure, the cause of the story, but it is what happens around it that is the story.<br /><br />After feeding the multitudes, Jesus sends the disciples off in their boat to the other side of the lake.<br />He goes up to the mountain to pray, if you remember , this was his original intention before the crowds came to him, and he felt compassion for them and fed them.<br /><br />Jesus stays up the mountain all night, praying.<br /><br />But while he is up there, the disciples in the boat are in trouble.<br />The wind has turned against them, they are far from land.<br />The boat is being battered by waves.<br /><br />The word that we have, battered, in the original Greek is a bit stronger.<br />It is closer to 'tortured.'<br /><br />IT may help us to remember that when Matthew was writing his gospel, the church was suffering severe persecution. This word would have wrung very true for those earliest Christians.<br /><br />They would have seen the boat as the church, themselves as the disciples.<br />The waves torturing them as the persecutions they faced.<br /><br />Our brothers and sisters in Iraq are facing persecution, torture and death today.<br />Churches that are over 1500 years old have been bombed.<br />In the past week there have been reports of mass crucifixions for those who will not denounce the faith. There are reports from priests of children they have baptised being cut in half.<br /><br />It is a horrific situation. And the world sits by and watches.<br /><br />We can feel helpless and hopeless. Unable to do anything.<br />We can do something.<br />We can pray.<br /><br />We can be thankful that we live in a country where we are free to practice our religion freely.<br />Our boat isn’t tortured by waves of persecution.<br /><br />We face different issues.<br />Indifference. Apathy. Complacency.<br /><br />Our boat sits lonely on the water, with hardly anyone noticing it,<br />and those who do notice it only bother when it suits them.<br /><br />Meanwhile, our brothers and sisters in Iraq are being beheaded for daring to profess the name Jesus Christ.<br /><br />Indifference and apathy have a different effect.<br />One day there will simply be no one here who cares and there will be no church.<br /><br />For those in Iraq, they face the prospect of the church being wiped out where they live.<br />We face the idea of our church slowly sliding into irrelevance.<br />It is up to us to stand up for our brothers and sisters in Iraq.<br />It is up to us to stand up for our own church.<br /> <br />In the boat it can feel like we are alone, that what we think, feel, believe means nothing to anyone else.<br /><br />The winds that batter our lives can make what we believe disappear for a while.<br />It can all seem so futile and it feels like Jesus is miles away.<br /><br />When I read this story, I put myself in the place of Peter.<br />So while it is useful to think of the boat as the church, it is Peter’s actions that express our actions.<br /><br />Peter sees Jesus on the water. He has been in the boat, he is frightened.<br /><br />Jesus spoke to them and said,<br />‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’<br /><br />Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’<br />He said, ‘Come.’<br /><br />In the midst of the storm, Peter sees Jesus.<br />In the midst of all the rubbish we face in our lives, when it feels Jesus is not around, something happens to remind us of Jesus presence.<br />He is there in front of us. Do not be afraid.<br /><br />Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk toward Jesus, doing the seemingly impossible.<br />But he notices the strong wind, and his fear returns.<br /><br />The presence of Christ in our lives is not like an on off switch.<br />It is not like we turn it on, and we never have to worry about it again.<br />And it’s not like Christ ever goes away.<br />It is more like life gets in the way.<br />Bills, arguments, bureaucracy, families...<br />all these things can feel like the waves, we can feel like we are sinking in them.<br />In those times we can forget Jesus with us.<br /><br />Peter sinks and cries out ‘Lord, save me!’<br />Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him,<br />‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’<br /><br />When things get so bad, we call out to Jesus.<br />He reaches out his hand.<br />‘Why did you doubt?’<br /><br />Jesus reminds us of his presence in our lives.<br />His presence can’t be turned on and off, but our awareness can and often is.<br />Like Peter, we becomes fearful of what the world sometimes throws at us, and we start to sink.<br />But it is not as if Jesus is not there.<br />It’s not that he reaches out his hand to us, rather it is we notice his hand is reaching out toward us.<br /><br />Why did you doubt?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/uObamz3UEio?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-62963828762806132492014-08-03T16:52:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.857+11:00Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8LBc3nP7aNBSEghgKbi6k5yVwSYTyug7vLzdgCg8hUv2PRJDPG02g7mzGRr0KsGrmxzM4honIVAsbDWShFbftDTjLiN-c-6VuFlzuRUTahCnT5jhUzJhBwK3x3hl4yTcvvMW87C2th5d/s1600/10565257_10203299661064980_3090891907695415266_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8LBc3nP7aNBSEghgKbi6k5yVwSYTyug7vLzdgCg8hUv2PRJDPG02g7mzGRr0KsGrmxzM4honIVAsbDWShFbftDTjLiN-c-6VuFlzuRUTahCnT5jhUzJhBwK3x3hl4yTcvvMW87C2th5d/s1600/10565257_10203299661064980_3090891907695415266_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>They need not go away; you give them something to eat.</b></div><br />The feeding of the 5000 is easily one of the most famous stories in the Gospels.<br /><br />It is one that people who have very little knowledge of Jesus or church or the faith will know.<br />Like ‘walking on water.’<br /><br />And like that, it is one of those stories that people have tried to explain.<br /><br />How did he do it?<br />He must have had some bread and fish hidden away.<br />He must have broken them up into such small pieces and everyone said they were filled.<br /><br />No explanation or rationalisation will actually help us.<br />No explanation can really get us to understand it.<br /><br />Because the how is not the important part.<br />That is something we have to accept.<br /><br />It is a miracle, it is something that goes beyond the normal understanding of reality, that goes beyond the material laws of time and space.<br /><br />And furthermore, the how is no way near as important or helpful as<br />why did Jesus do this.<br /><br />Or even more significant as what does it tell us about God?<br /><br />Jesus has just heard that his cousin John the Baptist has been killed.<br />He goes away to a deserted place, but the crowds follow him.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. </b></blockquote>He wants to be alone.<br />He must know things are going to be getting difficult.<br />The people need to be with him, and he recognises their need as more important than his own.<br /><br />He has compassion. He heals those who are sick.<br />This is not a great moment of teaching like we have had with the parables.<br />This is a time of doing.<br />He heals those who are sick, and he will feed those who are hungry.<br />The disciples start to worry about the crowd. They are hungry.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>send the crowds away </b><b>so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves</b></blockquote>Tell this lot to go away. They need to go and sort themselves out.<br />We only have a very small amount of food.<br /><br />The mindset of the disciples is conditioned by the way food was understood at the time.<br />There were strict dietary laws.<br /><br />These laws were sacred, and they were from God, so they were an understanding of how God was.<br />Some food was clean and other foods were unclean.<br />These sacred laws in some ways speak of scarcity.<br />You can eat this, but you can’t eat that.<br />Think of what the mindset would be of the people who were there.<br />For generations, they had learnt that God told them what they can and cannot eat.<br />Think about being hungry, but not being able to eat something because God has said you can’t.<br />Think about what your understanding of God would be then.<br />These laws placed more emphasis on the separation of clean and unclean, not the feeding of people.<br />Then think of this Jesus who multiplies such a small amount of food<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>And all ate and were filled</b></blockquote>How would your understanding of God of God be then?<br /><br />This is a God of abundance and generosity not scarcity and stringency.<br />Jesus is showing God’s generosity to all.<br /><br />He doesn’t interview or question whether the people need or deserve the food, he just provides.<br /><br />But it is not just food.<br />This is about the kingdom of God.<br />Imagine it as a parable:<br />The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who has five loaves of bread and 2 fish and feeds over 5000 people with them.<br /><br />Jesus shows us that this feeding is more than just food in his actions:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Taking the five loaves and the two fish,<br />he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves.</b></blockquote>He will do this again at the last supper, and we will take part in this later this morning.<br />When we do, we are sharing the same divine generosity and hospitality that the crowd of 5000 did.<br /><br />While we share in that same generosity we are to remember Jesus words:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>They need not go away; you give them something to eat.</b></blockquote>We are to show the same generosity that God shows us in the eucharist.<br />As the Letter of James tells us:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, </b><b>‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, </b><b>and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, </b><b>what is the good of that? </b></blockquote>As a church we are to be generous to those who are without.<br />By showing the same generosity of Jesus,<br />we can reveal God who wishes for all to be fed.<br /><br />When those who are fed can see that God loves them for who they are,<br />they will see a time and a place where they can share in the eucharist with us.<br /><br />They will see a time where there is a place set for them at the heavenly banquet.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YmpzxwvKwKQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-42485836812506611152014-07-29T16:14:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.886+11:00Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJImqyG5M3cKQWchsriy__1j3L4acukYD-n-e-mp_173laBqrJxNNxMUP_JW8GABTRTRQhdSOa4awjt9qJ7U-5nMjMWsL_YAjYUXfGu9JtQvaFctzLnCl6Fj6j-PPLbuqKV2e5zMytvmB/s1600/10364166_10203262756142380_5019058253337981922_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJImqyG5M3cKQWchsriy__1j3L4acukYD-n-e-mp_173laBqrJxNNxMUP_JW8GABTRTRQhdSOa4awjt9qJ7U-5nMjMWsL_YAjYUXfGu9JtQvaFctzLnCl6Fj6j-PPLbuqKV2e5zMytvmB/s1600/10364166_10203262756142380_5019058253337981922_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Jesus said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, </b><b>which someone found and hid; </b><b>then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.</b><b><br /></b><b>‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; </b><b>on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.</b></blockquote><br /><br />Jesus teaching in parables is a way of teaching that goes beyond our usual processes. These little tales or sayings or images grab us by their unusualness and ordinariness.<br /><br />The images Jesus uses are from daily life, they are things that everyone who first heard them would understand, yet they always have a strangeness to them.<br /><br />They are wonderful because they somehow stay with you, yet seemingly somewhat out of our grasp.<br /><br />The Kingdom parables that we hear today are an even more so.<br /><br />The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field<br />The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls<br /><br />On the surface these two parables seems to be saying the same thing.<br /><br />They speak to us about the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, </b><b>which someone found and hid; </b><b>then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.</b><b><br /></b><b>‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; </b><b>on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.</b></blockquote><br />Our initial thoughts are that the Kingdom of Heaven is so wonderful that we would sell everything we own to have it.<br />Jesus uses an example of selling all we own. The idea is that that would hurt in some way. Essentially we would suffer to own this better thing.<br /><br />But a closer look reveals they say somewhat different things:<br />The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field<br />the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls<br /><br />In the first example, the kingdom is like treasure which we find.<br />In the second, the Kingdom is like someone in search of something.<br /><br />In the first example, it is the object that is found, in the second, it is the one who is searching.<br />The first is passive, the second is active.<br /><br />Jesus puts these two parables together for a reason.<br />In the first, we are the one searching.<br />In the second we are the ones found.<br /><br />So what is the treasure that is found in the field?<br />It is something that is hidden within us all.<br />It is an inner reality within our soul, waiting to be discovered.<br />When we find this inner reality, we will happily give up all other desires, ambitions, and goals to make that inner reality our whole reality.<br /><br />We search within ourselves for the kingdom of God, as Jesus tells us in Luke’s gospel, ‘The Kingdom of God is within you.’<br /><br />But what about the second parable?<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; </b><b>on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it</b></blockquote><br />Here the Kingdom is someone searching.<br />Here, we are the pearls being searched out.<br /><br />We search for, and we are searched out.<br /><br />The kingdom is what we find in ourselves as an inner treasure.<br />It is also that which is searching to find us.<br /><br />We are the treasure that the kingdom of God searches for.<br />And the Kingdom of God is that treasure.<br /><br />I don’t think it was by accident that Jesus placed those two parable next to each other. One needs the other.<br />The Kingdom is neither one or the other, it is both.<br />It is treasure, and it searches for treasure.<br /><br />This is the paradox that Jesus taught.<br />The kingdom is within us, and it searches us out.<br /><br />The sad thing is that the treasure in the field or the pearl of great value has been replaced in many peoples lives by other things: drugs, drinking, gambling. These things cause people to sell everything they own so people can have them. And because they are addictions, they seem to seek people out.<br />They can be seen to be the antithesis of the Kingdom:<br />The cause destruction,<br />People lose themselves,<br />They lose who they are, and lose meaning in their lives and in themselves.<br /><br /><br />When we find the kingdom within ourselves,<br />we experience a growing wholeness,<br />an increasing sense of who we are,<br />the meaning of our personality, an expanded consciousness.<br /><br />All this takes us beyond ourselves, and into the transcendent.<br />We know who we truly are and we begin to get a sense of who we are in God.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ag2aHwta7KE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-52444862762508003902014-07-20T15:17:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.920+11:00Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatd7dXQgZeRiuWigdnuj_OBr15T4ytQjAhuhhsdx4eD8Jd0jfHecyEED9NVTu69gzKBiti18KnEYRoWUIwdlgNjpkL6B_sLFnxScxysrKZFpwFaMLEweOimCMx6j1o1YZ8dh88CsxLczI/s1600/10491189_10203209978862981_2151759978824419325_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatd7dXQgZeRiuWigdnuj_OBr15T4ytQjAhuhhsdx4eD8Jd0jfHecyEED9NVTu69gzKBiti18KnEYRoWUIwdlgNjpkL6B_sLFnxScxysrKZFpwFaMLEweOimCMx6j1o1YZ8dh88CsxLczI/s1600/10491189_10203209978862981_2151759978824419325_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Let both of them grow together until the harvest</b></div><br />Today we are confronted with images of the afterlife.<br />We have images of the furnace of fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth.<br />We have images of the righteous shining like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.<br /><br />Jesus leaves us with these images at the end of his explanation of the parable.<br /><br />He is explaining the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, or the Wheat and the Tares as it used to be called.<br /><br />Jesus is telling us one of the mysteries of the Kingdom.<br /><br />But the images of the afterlife, of judgement are only a very small part of the parable.<br />In fact, the parable is more about what happens now, than what will happen.<br /><br />A man sows good seed in his field, someone else comes along and sows some bad seed among the good.<br />The plants begin to sprout, both good and bad.<br /><br />Our translation of wheat and weed does not help us. The older 'wheat and tares' does a bit.<br /><br />The word for weed in the Greek is not simply weed, it is a kind of weed.<br />It is darnel, a kind of grass.<br /><br />Now the thing with darnel is that when it first sprouts up, it looks exactly like wheat.<br />You can’t tell it apart.<br /><br />The mans slaves believe they can see the weeds amongst the wheat and suggest they go and pull all the weeds out.<br /><br />The man replies:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.<br />Let both of them grow together until the harvest;<br />and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,<br />Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned,<br />but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’</blockquote>So here is the point of the parable.<br /><br />Jesus explains it:<br />The man who sows is Jesus.<br />The field is the world.<br />The good seed are those who hear and respond to the gospel, followers of Jesus.<br />The weeds are things that are off. Darkness, evil, sin.<br /><br />The wheat and the weeds grow together.<br />The world will exist of things of Christ and things that aren’t.<br /><br />And often, it will be difficult to see what is what.<br /><br />Many things may appear to of Christ, but when fully grown may be revealed to be of the ego, the self, of money, of idolatory.<br />Many things may at first seem to be opposed to the faith,<br />but on flourishing show themselves to be faithful.<br /><br />The point is at we are not always going to be able to tell.<br />And it is not our job to destroy things we think are not of Christ.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.<br />Let both of them grow together until the harvest.</blockquote><br />Think about it:<br />If we were to go about destroying everything that we thought was not correct, or Jesuslike or of the Kingdom, soon enough there would be nothing left.<br />Good and evil often exist in the same place. To try and destroy the evil will only end in the destruction of the good.<br />How can we oppose evil without creating new evils and being made evil ourselves?<br />Good and evil often exist within the same person.<br />There would be no one left.<br />There would be nothing left.<br /><br />The parable is about forbearance, tolerance and forgiveness.<br /><br />It is about judgement.<br />It tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not to judge others.<br /><br />Who is wheat? Who is weed?<br /><br />Ours is not to say.<br /><br />Jesus is telling us that we are to go the extra mile.<br />That we are to offer the other cheek.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Let both of them grow together until the harvest</b></div><br />It is not up to us to uproot things we think aren’t of God.<br />If we were to, we may just be uprooting the very things that are the foundation of the kingdom.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FaLKAWN-PJ8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-47462784641882164492014-07-13T14:20:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.943+11:00Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiysKaC8ladPmCBsJX0Rr8lus6y3AS4QspefPnhnKkZchIrduiardNyQDiPCTx84aPEDZJ_25bcfHasvKBZv9ZoD9gK2JZnR31HJhS2Q8dh0WXgZxJQzSsoAT8sA5y4_pcStUCaWZHjdrZC/s1600/10464043_10203143745887198_8840429708731271536_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiysKaC8ladPmCBsJX0Rr8lus6y3AS4QspefPnhnKkZchIrduiardNyQDiPCTx84aPEDZJ_25bcfHasvKBZv9ZoD9gK2JZnR31HJhS2Q8dh0WXgZxJQzSsoAT8sA5y4_pcStUCaWZHjdrZC/s1600/10464043_10203143745887198_8840429708731271536_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Hear then the parable of the sower</b></div><br />This is one of the few occasions in the gospel where Jesus explains his teaching in parables.<br />He has just told the Parable of the Sower.<br /><br />They ask him:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’<br />He answered,<br />‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,<br />but to them it has not been given.<br />The reason I speak to them in parables is that<br />“seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” </blockquote><br />The parables give and demand at the same time.<br />They are a way of teaching that demands thought and prayer.<br />They aren’t rational or didactic.<br />They aren’t little moral lessons like Aesops’s fables, although they can seem like them on first hearing.<br /><br />To me, the parables are always slightly out of reach.<br />When I think I have them sorted out, in my grasp, another thought comes and changes the dynamic.<br /><br />So with today’s parable.<br />There would not seem to be any real reason to explain it. Jesus has done that for us.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. </blockquote>Some seeds fall on the path and are eaten by birds.<br />Jesus tells us that this is what happens when someone hears but does not understand.<br /><br /><br />Other seeds fell on rocky ground, the soil is shallow, they spring up quickly, but don’t take root. They wither in the sun.<br />These are new converts who are initially filled with excitement, but fall away when theings get tough.<br /><br />Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.<br />The thorns represent the things of the world: money, power, buracracy.<br />These things stop the word from growing and kill it.<br /><br />Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain,<br />some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“This is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields,<br />in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”</blockquote><br />So, on the surface we have 4 situations shown. The odds are 3-1 of success. Not the greatest odds.<br /><br />We all know these situations.<br />We have all seen seeds thrown on the path, the word of God going out and no one hearing or getting it.<br />We have all seen new converts, filled with joy, only to lose their way when the joy subsides and life gets real again.<br />We have all seen the world strangle the word. The church is very good at doing this to itself.<br />Every time we talk about something that is not the gospel, it is a little thorn growing up.<br /><br />Those are the 3 in the 3-1 odds.<br /><br />The 1 is where it comes together.<br />We all hope that we are that good soil that the seed can grow in. Presumably we are.<br /><br />Many of you are gardeners.<br />You know what you need to do to get plants growing.<br />You till the soil, you fertilise it, you water it, you put the plants in the right place for shade, all that stuff.<br /><br />Think of yourself in the same way.<br />What do you need to do to be able to receive God’s word so that it can grow and yield plants.<br />Prayer, receiving Holy Communion, reading the scriptures, confessing your sins. <br />Good fertile soil.<br />Gods word can grow and yield grain that can then grow and create more seed and on it goes.<br /><br />The danger of looking at the parable as 'different kinds of soil equals different kinds of people responding to God' is that is makes it a story of division.<br /><br />Maybe we need to look at it differently.<br />Instead of being about different people, it is actually about ourselves.<br /><br />There are times when we are rocky ground, or a path, or thorny.<br />There are times when we don’t get it, when we give up, or distracted by the world.<br />Yet, God keeps sowing.<br />He doesn’t give up on us.<br /><br />Note Jesus’ introduction:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Hear then the parable of the sower.</blockquote>The parable is not really about the soil, it is about the one who sows:<br />Who is the sower?<br />The sower is God.<br /><br />From Isaiah:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,<br /> and do not return there until they have watered the earth,<br />making it bring forth and sprout,<br /> giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,<br />so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;<br /> it shall not return to me empty,<br />but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,<br /> and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. </blockquote><br />But look at the actions of the sower:<br /><br />He drops seed, he throws it on rocks, he throws it on stony areas, he throws it on good soil.<br />That is not a good use of resources, it is a bad business plan. It seems like a waste.<br /><br />But that is looking at things in the way of flesh, not of the spirit.<br /><br />As Paul tells us:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,<br />but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. </blockquote>The way of looking at this in the way of the spirit is that of God’s generosity.<br />God’s word goes everywhere.<br /><br />God doesn’t stop because people don’t understand or give up or get distracted.<br />God doesn’t stop because we don’t understand or give up or get distracted.<br /><br />God keeps sowing his word regardless of the condition of the soil.<br />He isn’t stingy, he isn’t judgemental, or practical.<br />He keeps sowing for eternity, sowing the whole of his creation with his word.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/4_SxK_tDkFQ/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/4_SxK_tDkFQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/4_SxK_tDkFQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-69102075937246059142014-06-30T10:54:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:58.977+11:00Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYH21iUBvXXxeZo0dpHTjTMKvF-UFsqCyTbs8_gywr0TFETDHWrA8SNjumJTBytj2gcwj3A8J-n5_r1m9fzAKAiiTA6fj-heYyoiYgBgwwLJ6_vdmtxJYFb775XO-WUg7LwLiTj-vCEhC/s1600/10464240_10203065619094077_7308114706870520111_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYH21iUBvXXxeZo0dpHTjTMKvF-UFsqCyTbs8_gywr0TFETDHWrA8SNjumJTBytj2gcwj3A8J-n5_r1m9fzAKAiiTA6fj-heYyoiYgBgwwLJ6_vdmtxJYFb775XO-WUg7LwLiTj-vCEhC/s1600/10464240_10203065619094077_7308114706870520111_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b>Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—</b><br /><b>truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward</b><br /><br />What is the cup of cold water?<br />Who are these little ones?<br /><br />What do these things say about our understanding of God?<br /><br />The phrase “one of these little ones” is only used in one other place in the Gospel, Matthew 18:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea." </blockquote>So what we have is reward in doing good, a cup of cold water,<br />and in this later case,<br />punishment for doing wrong, a stumbling block.<br />Both reward and punishment are described in the case of what is done to “One of these little ones.”<br /><br />Who are these little ones?<br />Who are these who we are to give a cup of cold water to?<br />Who are these who are not to put a stumbling block before?<br /><br />They are anyone in need.<br />We are called to meet those needs, big or small, meaningful or seemingly meaningless.<br /><br />Jesus will say in Matthew 25:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”</blockquote>Hunger, thirst, alone, naked, sick, imprisoned.<br /><br />If anyone is in need we are to answer.<br />Calling them little ones implies a helplessness.<br />It implies someone who will grow.<br />Think of a little one as someone who knows nothing of Jesus.<br />They hear about this wonderful man, fully human, fully divine.<br />They hear the stories of healing, his compassion, his feeding the hungry. They hear how he gave his life for those he loved.<br /><br />Think of that little one seeing a community of people who follow this same man.<br /><br />They would rightly expect to see those same qualities being displayed.<br />A community that follows Jesus should do the same as Jesus did while he walked on earth.<br /><br />For a community to not be will only lead to being thought of as hypocrites.<br />Talking the talk but walking the walk.<br /><br />The letter of James puts it this way:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.</blockquote><br />He goes on:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.</blockquote><br />So the little ones are anyone in need.<br />What is the cold water?<br />It can be anything.<br />It can be something tangible: food, drink, clothing.<br />It can be something different: a hug, a smile, a kind word.<br />Sometimes the most significant thing we can give is our time.<br />Just to listen.<br /><br />That cup of cold water will make the difference to a little ones day.<br />It can make a difference to their life.<br /><br />It shows what following Jesus means.<br />It shows who Jesus is and what he does.<br /><br />Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,<br />and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.<br /><br />The way we act for and with the least of our society is shows our understanding of how God acts with us.<br />If we think we don’t need God’s help, we won’t think anyone deserves our help.<br />God helps those who help themselves is not in the Bible.<br />Our relationship with God is expressed in how we treat others, especially those who are in need.<br /><br />We express our love for God in in our love for others:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”</blockquote><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/nUFYjIbDfdE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-83918646536627666712014-06-22T13:38:00.000+10:002015-12-12T13:08:59.068+11:00Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwMHMslHfiZXu6WMyiUOz5re4B2f5lrOALihjEP6ph7iBHQHsJ2BmsQaHtcP7k1mbaiYi1YXHgV9pcfP0mTgnwpYv6AuXmF3YOkl7BVnAkWgm5Ifl_ily9tMm3UVkdPhIyRgaaSJxSIhb/s1600/10350637_10203002109266371_151002450631608499_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwMHMslHfiZXu6WMyiUOz5re4B2f5lrOALihjEP6ph7iBHQHsJ2BmsQaHtcP7k1mbaiYi1YXHgV9pcfP0mTgnwpYv6AuXmF3YOkl7BVnAkWgm5Ifl_ily9tMm3UVkdPhIyRgaaSJxSIhb/s1600/10350637_10203002109266371_151002450631608499_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b>Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.</b><br /><br />This is one of Jesus best sayings.<br />We need only listen to it.<br /><br />Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.<br /><br />Much like last week’s ‘I am with you to the end of the age,’<br />it has an aura of truth that goes beyond the norm.<br /><br />I am with you always was a promise, a promise we receive.<br />Likewise today, but here there is a condition.<br /><br />Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.<br /><br />So, what is meant by life?<br />What is meant by lose?<br />What is meant by find?<br /><br />Life here is a decent translation.<br />The Greek word means either life or soul. <br />The Greek itself is a translation of the Aramaic.<br />The word there is self.<br /><br />Furthermore, the grammar is different.<br /><br />Closer to what Jesus said is this:<br /><br />Those whose aim has been to save themselves shall lose themselves,<br />and those who lose themselves for my sake will themselves.<br /> <br />So Jesus isn’t talking about life, what we do, and the things that we surround ourselves with.<br />He isn’t talking about our families, as the earlier part of the reading suggests:<br /><br />Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth;<br />I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.<br />For I have come to set a man against his father,<br />and a daughter against her mother,<br />and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;<br />and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.<br /><br />He is talking about the inner part, the soul, the essence,<br />he is talking about who we really are.<br /><br />If your aim has been to keep yourself in first place,<br />to keep yourself as number one,<br />to put your own interest above all others,<br />above community,<br />above God,<br />you will lose.<br /><br />This is incredibly countercultural.<br />It is always has been, but is even more so today.<br /> Our time is incredibly narcissistic.<br />It is all about me.<br />It is about what is in it for me.<br />It is about selfies.<br />It is about online presence.<br />All this creates a culture that revels in self importance.<br />This is isn’t just a problem for the young.<br />It is engrained in our society at all levels.<br /><br />When we see ourselves as so important, it is even easier to see others as lesser.<br />It then becomes ok to look at someone else as not being as significant to society.<br />It then becomes ok to see others as less important to God.<br /><br />We can start to see other races as less worthy as our own.<br />We can start to see people with less money as less.<br />We start to see young people as wrong and old people as irrelevant.<br />We can start to see people who arrive on our shores on boats as less than human.<br />All because we think we are so important.<br />Our self is central, not God.<br />Our ego is in charge, and God is put into a tidy little Sunday box.<br />Our selfishness reigns during the week, and God gets a peek for an hour.<br /><br />Those whose aim has been to save themselves shall lose themselves<br /><br />We lose our compassion and empathy in ourselves and in doing so we lose who we are meant to be. We lose our calling from God.<br /><br />Jesus tells us: Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself.<br />Love yourself yes, love your neighbour the same.<br />That takes the self out of it.<br />And loving God removes the self. It removes selfishness.<br /><br />Jesus says those who lose themselves for my sake will find themselves.<br /><br />If we lose our self, we find ourselves.<br />If we lose our sense of self importance and find ourselves in others and find ourselves in Christ.<br />This is another part of letting go:<br />Letting go of what separates us from our neighbour and God.<br />Letting go of our self centredness, to look toward where the Spirit is guiding us.<br /><br />And that is how we find ourselves.<br />We find ourselves when we let go of what we think we need and listen to what God needs from us.<br />We lose our wants and find the needs of God.<br />We find them in our neighbour, we find them in the least of humanity.<br />And it is there that we find ourselves and God.<br /><br />Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8md31VRGH-I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-83868878956644493732014-06-15T15:53:00.000+10:002014-06-18T16:02:47.703+10:00Sermon for Trinity Sunday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCJFL8ypXTaXvwQl0g5MfRrIuoOeFPnbm0LiFzxxitqTtepO96fR494zC1PPD6SzLbp194nq8XImXe_92rrL_w6q4ObJe7IWa8X-kKRNmuYjmDRWpBihs2HVb81jPRTdQReVrcdiZ211d/s1600/10346106_10202951034549535_354177637681866146_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCJFL8ypXTaXvwQl0g5MfRrIuoOeFPnbm0LiFzxxitqTtepO96fR494zC1PPD6SzLbp194nq8XImXe_92rrL_w6q4ObJe7IWa8X-kKRNmuYjmDRWpBihs2HVb81jPRTdQReVrcdiZ211d/s1600/10346106_10202951034549535_354177637681866146_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.</b></div><br />I remember in the earliest days of my conversion,<br />everything all floaty and light,<br />when the promise of God’s life bought purpose, understanding, and clarity to everything.<br /><br />Wonderful.<br /><br />I remember even after that initial excitement realising “All this AND eternal life!”<br /><br />It was a joyous discovery, to know that God had somehow found me in all my mess and uselessness. And further to that, I was going to be able to be with him forever.<br /><br />In this time, I was devouring the scriptures.<br />I read John several times, I slowly read through Luke, and Mark was like a flash and a rush.<br /><br />And then there was Matthew.<br />Somewhere along the line, I had picked up a prejudice against Matthew’s gospel.<br />It was the church’s gospel.<br />It struck me as the most boring and ordinary.<br />I avoided it.<br /><br />When I did eventually read Matthew, all my prejudices were confirmed.<br />It did seem dull compared with Luke or John.<br />Until the last line.<br />Yes, there were bits that were awesome, but the last line.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world</b></div><br />There, all the promise I had felt was spoken by Jesus to all who ever have believed in him,<br />who ever guided by the Holy Spirit have been able to proclaim Jesus is Lord!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.</b></div><br />I knew then I would never be alone.<br /><br />The words were true.<br />I could hear Jesus speak them to the disciples. .<br />I could hear him speak them to me.<br />The words bypass our brain and go directly to our spirit, they enliven us with hope and life.<br />They are the truth.<br /><br />And they are quite a promise.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>I am with you always, to the end of the age.</b></div><br />No one else can say this and it be truth.<br /><br />I love my wife, but the best I can say to her is I will be with most of the time,<br />but there will be times when I am not around.<br />Like when I am at the shop and you are at home.<br />Like when I am at church and you are the market.<br /><br />And as Jesus says to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.</b></blockquote>And I can’t say I will be with you to the end of the age.<br />I can say I will be with you until I die, or I’ll be with until you die,<br />but other than that I can’t say anything.<br /><br />So I can’t say this. I might want to, I might think it, but I can’t say it and it be true.<br />Only Jesus can say this:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>I am with you always, to the end of the age.</b></blockquote>He is the only person who ever has or will exist that can say this.<br />He said it to the disciples before he ascended, and those words are spoken to us.<br /><br />Think of what that means.<br /><br />It is the promise that God will always be with us.<br />And not just us here today.<br />He will be here with those who come after us.<br /><br />It is to all those who will ever follow him.<br /><br />There is great comfort in this.<br /><br />We should all feel reassured and safe by this promise.<br /><br />And in feeling such a way, we need not worry.<br /><br />We need not fret over the future of the church.<br />Jesus tells us he will be with us to the end of the age.<br />The church will continue.<br /><br />Again, we need not be afraid.<br /><br />We need to take Jesus at his word.<br /><br />We have the people and the gifts we need for the work of this parish.<br />What that work is, and how our parish will look is not for us to worry about.<br /><br />It is up to us to release ourselves from what was, and enter into what will be.<br />This means letting go.<br /><br />It means entering into a period of time where we don’t know what is going to happen,<br />when we aren’t in control of what is going to happen,<br />Where we can’t guarantee we will even agree with what is going to happen.<br /><br />But knowing that Jesus will be with us.<br />Knowing he will continue to be here with those who come after us.<br />Knowing the Holy Spirit will be inspiring those for God’s glory.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.</b></div><br />After the prayers, there will be a time for the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. Everyone is welcome to come forward to receive healing.<br />If you would rather not, that is fine too.<br />I ask that while this happens,<br />we all pray for the healing of our parish, our relationships, our bodies and our minds.<br /><br />Know that you can be healed, and that Jesus is with us, now and forever.<br />Amen.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8RUUnDBLayY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-12911416174221242602014-06-08T15:46:00.000+10:002014-06-18T16:02:47.774+10:00Sermon for the Day of Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMWoSkGywxo_zbkFO6pnAjbt6HD8_fGib1AK8qArgM5ZAnRB7RV3EbtnxJJBqLoYfXTrorAioQViNF0kktf8sa7U-4NPlSsWG8vAQxHQv98cL4Zf_aAoSVGdE-QdSGyu3N9U5Ht57fcE6/s1600/10354755_10202918526856863_8472466981189966119_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMWoSkGywxo_zbkFO6pnAjbt6HD8_fGib1AK8qArgM5ZAnRB7RV3EbtnxJJBqLoYfXTrorAioQViNF0kktf8sa7U-4NPlSsWG8vAQxHQv98cL4Zf_aAoSVGdE-QdSGyu3N9U5Ht57fcE6/s1600/10354755_10202918526856863_8472466981189966119_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Two stories of the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />One which is more familiar, tongues of fire landing on their heads, a great whooshing sound.<br />The other, Jesus coming to them and breathing on them.<br /><br />Both involve the disciples being together inside together.<br /><br />A bunch of people, who believe that Jesus is the messiah together, inside. Sounds very familiar.<br /><br />In the gospel version of events, John tells us that <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.</b></blockquote><br />They are inside, doors locked, because they are scared of those who might harm them, who might even kill them.<br /><br />They lock the doors. They are safe. They are together.<br /><br />Yet what can they do?<br /><br />The outside world can’t get at them, but they can’t go and be with the world.<br /><br />Fear has stopped them from being with others.<br /><br />Again, sounds familiar.<br /><br />We become stuck inside, and look at ourselves, and pray and do our stuff, but if we are honest, we are a bit scared of interacting with the world when it comes to the gospel.<br />Fear has us locking our doors and gates, for fear of those outside.<br /><br />What would happen if they came in?<br />What would they think of us?<br />What would they do to us?<br />What would happen if they decided to stay with us?<br />What would that do to our time together?<br /><br />We can hold on to what we are, who we are, or we can let go, and as happens to the disciples,<b> receive the Holy Spirit.</b><br /><br />Of course, we have received the Holy Spirit, as the reading from Acts tells us, no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />Jesus is Lord.<br /><br />So it isn’t a matter of us receiving the Holy Spirit, he is already with us.<br />Rather, it is a matter of us recognising his presence with us, waking up and letting go.<br /><br />To let go and be guided, inspired and given life by the Holy Spirit is where we are up to.<br />To let go, to see, feel, smell, taste, to know, where he is working within us,<br />as a church, as a parish, as a congregation, as one of God’s children.<br /><br />All of us have been given gifts<br />Paul tells us:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; </b><b>and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; </b><b>and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. </b><b>To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. </b><b>All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, </b><b>who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.</b></blockquote><br /><b>To each is given a manifestation of the spirit for the common good.</b><br />Each one of us has been given a gift which is the Holy Spirit working within us.<br />A gift for the common good of the mission of the church.<br />Some of you may know what yours is.<br />Some of you may still be unsure.<br />I don’t think it is a static thing.<br /><br />You may have the gift of public speaking, but it may only be for a time.<br />A time when what you were able to say and the way you were able to say was important.<br />Then it may be gone.<br />Like the disciples in Acts.<br />They were given the gift of being able to speak in all languages, as that was what was needed at that time.<br /><br />I believe as a parish we have the people we need with the gifts they have for the common good of our mission.<br />I believe what we need for our work is already here.<br />It is up to us to release ourselves from what was, and enter into what will be.<br /><br />Letting go is not easy.<br />It means entering into a period of time where we don’t know what is going to happen, when we aren’t in control of what is going to happen,<br />Where we can’t guarantee we will even agree with what is going to happen.<br /><br />Jesus says to the disciples:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Receive the Holy Spirit.</b></blockquote>The Greek which is translated to receive is not quite that passive. It is more like take.<br /><br />The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is not something that we receive passively,<br />rather it is something that we meet with personal effort.<br />That effort will be in a prayer life together, and as individuals.<br />It will be by being aware that we can receive the inspiration.<br />It will be by being aware that we will know that we will know we are being inspired by the Holy Spirit.<br />Those moments when an idea appears.<br /><br />That is waking up.<br /><br />Then comes letting go.<br />Being open to where that takes us.<br /><br />Letting go and letting the Holy Spirit be our guide and comforter,<br />to let him be the one that gives us courage, strength and life for what lies ahead is where are now.<br /><br /><i>Come Holy Spirit.</i><br /><i>Be our guide, be our strength, be our comfort, be our peace.</i><br /><i>Come Holy Spirit, Come.</i><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/S3YWKn2Pcmw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948836453070904205.post-38976262485505440062014-06-01T15:32:00.000+10:002014-06-18T16:02:47.788+10:00Sermon for The Ascension<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheRUxB_JyyIzKkI9yIegQq6EBEEkbLpmcQkBuWRWpe3iZbxYnPnNqbYP0QYNeLrbNEMtxtncTfTwJGQqtf0aRKLK5JGszAJ-GDVkTmMTCykmVux5tBajLWyo_bc3-5WGMqrqV3DdJ070pI/s1600/ascension-of-jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheRUxB_JyyIzKkI9yIegQq6EBEEkbLpmcQkBuWRWpe3iZbxYnPnNqbYP0QYNeLrbNEMtxtncTfTwJGQqtf0aRKLK5JGszAJ-GDVkTmMTCykmVux5tBajLWyo_bc3-5WGMqrqV3DdJ070pI/s1600/ascension-of-jesus.jpg" height="312" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b> ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ </b></div><br />It is very natural for the disciples to ask this question at this time.<br />They know that Jesus is leaving.<br />He has told them that the Holy Spirit is coming soon.<br /><br />It is only fair they ask whether this will be the time when all things are fixed up.<br /><br />But if we look at what they are asking about,<br />it becomes clear that they are looking in the wrong place.<br /><br />The restoration of the kingdom to Israel is no small thing,<br />but things have just gotten a lot bigger,<br />and things are about to get even bigger.<br /><br />The Son of God has walked the earth,<br />has taught, healed, been crucified and rose from the dead.<br />Things have changed.<br />His message is not just about Israel, it is about all the nations.<br />His teaching, his being is for the whole world, not just one race.<br /><br />So things have expanded a lot.<br /><br />Even more so, the Holy Spirit will come soon,<br />and that will change things even more.<br />They are to be empowered to make disciples,<br />to teach Jesus’ message of eternal life and love for all who hear.<br /><br />Israel must seem small when compared with the eternal God.<br />Israel must seem like years ago when compared with eternity that stands in front of them.<br /><br />Think that these men and women had followed Jesus and been with him,<br />seen and heard and felt all that he had done and been.<br />Their vision still reverted to the smaller things, to the normal.<br />The restoration of Israel was something that they did not need to worry about.<br /><br />Their focus needed to be on Jesus, he who was about to ascend.<br /><br />Things haven’t changed in many ways.<br /><br />We do the same thing.<br /><br />The worldwide church is brilliant at looking at other issues instead of the greater purpose.<br />Whether or not women can be priests.<br />Whether or not Anglican orders are valid.<br />We argue about justification by works.<br />Issues of human sexuality take up thousands of blog pages and hours and hours of peoples time.<br /><br />Is it right to wear robes?<br />Is it wrong to bow to the altar?<br />Is it an altar or the Lord’s Table?<br /><br />These things are small.<br /><br />The church argues within itself about things that really don’t matter.<br />All the time it is focussed on these issues, it ignores the greater the greater purpose.<br /><br />The greater purpose is Jesus Christ.<br /><br />The disciples who ask about Israel were witnesses to his life, death, resurrection,<br />and now his ascension.<br /><br />There was the focus.<br /><br />As a part of the Church universal, we suffer the same issues, but on a smaller scale.<br /><br />We worry about lawns, vacuuming, flowers.<br />We worry about the budget.<br />Are we going to be able to keep going?<br />We worry about whether enough people are coming to church.<br /><br />I feel that we are so worried about surviving and keeping going<br />that we may have forgotten what we are surviving and keeping going for.<br /><br />Like the disciples, we look at small issues in the grand scheme of things.<br /><br />The focus needs to be Jesus.<br /><br />We need to be here to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.<br /><br />And the good news is that we do not need to rely on ourselves to be able to do it.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ </b></blockquote><br />As the first disciples received the Holy Spirit,<br />so too are we given life to be able to go and be witnesses to Jesus where we are.<br /><br />If we think about longing, and waking up, then there is letting go.<br /><br />By letting go of what we think we need to be in control of,<br />we make room for God.<br /><br />We make room for guidance from the Holy Spirit.<br />We are open to see the bigger picture.<br />We are to see Jesus in all we meet, in all we do, in all we desire.<br /><br />By letting go of what used to be,<br />what we think we need to be,<br />who we think we need to be,<br />we make room for who God needs us to be:<br />as individuals, as a community, as a church.<br /><br />This can be very uncomfortable.<br />It can be unsettling.<br />It can also be comforting and restful.<br /><br />When we let go, we hear where God is working.<br />We let go of expectation<br />and let the spirit guide, inspire, and take us where we need to be.<br /><br />It is by Jesus ascension that this is at all possible:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ </b></blockquote><br />And it is not only the ends of the earth, but the end of time:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b> ‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’</b></blockquote><br />Letting go may be a bit scarey,<br />but remember it is not being alone,<br />it is in fact being more together.<br /><br />It is about unifying our hearts together as one, and joining with God on where he wants to take us.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, </b><b>will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’</b></blockquote><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DBMZRwIxmbw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><br />orczyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966522854508330890noreply@blogger.com0