Homily for Pentecost 19

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.

The importance of children in Jesus mission and teaching is clear and once again, we find children in the presence of Jesus.

Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me

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 hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 

Let the little children come to me; Do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs

In these three examples, Jesus is stressing the importance of children in the life of the kingdom.

We aren’t to be stumbling blocks for them.
We are to welcome them. By welcoming children, we welcome Christ himself.

It is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs.

Such as these. People like these. Brothers and sisters whose hearts are like that of a child.

Jesus isn’t saying that the Kingdom of God belongs to children.

It doesn’t. It belongs to all who believe, and of course that will include children, but not children exclusively.


“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

And here we reach the reason why children are important for Jesus.


Yes, they are important in themselves,
as people,
as a fellow brother or sister in Christ,
they are of equal standing with anyone else.

The church belongs as much to children as it does to priests or wardens or organists or any of us.

The church works at its truest when it understands this.
The church is at its best when it is what it needs to be for
an infant,
a  9 year old,
a teenager,
a young mum,
a father of two,
a grandfather of 8,
or a great grandmother of 32.

The church belongs to all these, equally.
No one’s needs are more important than the other.
They are different needs, but of equal significance.

But Jesus uses the idea of children in a deeper way.

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

It’s a bit like this: above my desk I have pictures of Archangel Michael, and another set of the four archangels. They are wonderful paintings, with great detail and style. The expressions an all the faces are real and the they are moody.

However, underneath, there is a picture Ivy drew of the angel of the resurrection from Matthew’s gospel. It is a child’s drawing. It isn’t realistic or as stylised as the others. But it is beautiful. The angel has a bow in her hair, is holding flowers and has large lipstick covered lips. She is smiling, looking right at me from atop the stone she has rolled away. Now as a dad, of course I am going to love this picture, but there is more to it.

As a child, Ivy has managed to express her faith and love in a way that is pure and uncomplicated. It is as a child she has received this story, and as a child she believes it. As a child she has drawn it. It is innocent. It is from her heart. It is pure.

We are to be as a child in how we believe.

And how does a child believe?
How does a child receive the Kingdom of God?


Most children do not have theology degrees.
Most children have not been going to church for 50 years.
Most children do not argue about where the altar should be placed, or what flowers there are, or what colour vestments are worn.
Most children are not going to give you an indepth reasoning of how miracles occur.

All these things are obviously superfluous.
That is not to say they are not important, interesting and essential in some way.
It is just that they are not deal makers or breakers in when receiving the kingdom of God.

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

This is another way of saying Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

A child approaches Christ with openness. A child accepts Christ as he is, not as they want him to be.

It is from here, it is from the heart, not the intellect that a child receives the kingdom of God.
It is from a place that is unsullied by worldly nonsense and useless information that a child is with Christ.
It is from here.

But we are to be careful. Jesus tells us to receive the kingdom as a child does. We are not become children. As St Paul tells us:

when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

Our belief is to be pure, like that of a child.
But we are not to become childish.
Our faith is not to become childish.
We are to keep the essence of our faith in that pure childlike state, where we are with Christ in a way that is honest and clear.

It is the essence of our faith, and I believe it is the essence of ourselves that we are to keep pure, and in doing so we will be able to receive the Kingdom of God as a child.

Homily for Pentecost 18

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 hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

Stumbling blocks.

Something in the way, that will cause someone to fall, that will cause them trip and not be able to continue on their journey.
Somethi ng that will cause someone to stop where they are.
Something that will not only stop someone, but may well injure them.

 But the point that struck me today is about the stumbling blocks we place before others.

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 hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

And with this I thought about baptism.

As you know, the way we go about baptism here has changed over the past 6 months.
The baptism now takes place within the eucharist, and we have a bunch of families here, with their friends, families, godparents all seated at the front.

But there are stumbling blocks aplenty within this.
We only baptise once a month. This can cause some to stumble.
We baptise in groups. This can cause some to stumble.
 We baptise within a full eucharist. This can cause some to stumble.

You see, the families that contact us for baptism do so for many reasons.
Sometimes it is because Great Aunty Doris wants it to happen, other times it is simply because it is the done thing.
And sometimes, it is done out of true desire to become members of the  body of Christ.

Who are we to make ANY of these people stumble?

What is going on within baptism families in terms of faith, God, baptism is really between them and God.  We have no idea how that might look or feel for them. And we cannot become a stumbling block in this earliest stage of their journey.

But what of what happens when they are here at 9:30, sitting in the front seats, waiting.

What stumbling blocks do we have here that could cause them to stumble, even at this stage?

We will all have our own ideas about how we could make the service more baptism family friendly.

Think of it like this.

Lets say I have decided to watch the grand final later today.

I don’t know a thing about rugby league, but you do, and you have been waiting for me to say I want to get into the footie.

What would you do to make me enjoy watching the game?
You would explain the basic rules,
tell me about the teams,
tell me about the star players,
tell me about any rivalries there are.

You would explain all terms and jargon.

You would invite some other mates around to watch with us.
You’d make sure the tv was working, the sound system loud enough.
You’d make sure there were drinks and snacks.
You would maybe decorate the lounge in team colours.

You would also make sure I had a way of getting home safely, or offer me the couch to sleep on.

Basically, you would do as much as you could to make the day as enjoyable and meaningful as possible.

Now, think of baptism.

Do we do this?

Our baptism service can be a stumbling block to many.
And as a church we need to think of ways to reduce that.
We need to find ways of making the baptism a meaningful and spiritual experience for all who come to be a part of it.

At the moment it is almost like being taught the rules of AFL, but watching the NRL.

We can do this.
We can make baptism a beautiful experience for all involved, including ourselves.

But Jesus gives us a warning:

Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?

Here Jesus warns us of not losing what it is that makes us Christians.
We are not to water down the gospel.
We are to remain true to the message of peace and love, and eternal life we find in Jesus Christ.
 If we lose that, we are like saltless salt.

So, this is where it stands. We are not to be stumbling blocks, and we aren’t to become saltless salt.

I leave you with this:
What can we do as a parish to make sure we do everything we can
to make baptism for those who know very little about what we do here,
the wonderful experience we know it is,
while at the same time keeping true to the gospel of peace and love, and life in the body of Christ?

Headship

Wives,be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife

just as Christ is the head of the church,

the body of which he is the Saviour.

Eph 5:22-23

The husband is the head of the wife.

The husband is in charge.

The wife is to do as the husband says.

As Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife.

Any of you who know me and Sarah, will know this is not the way our marriage runs.

I remember  just after becoming a Christian, reading this passage to Sarah.

There was no way our lives, our marriage was going to work like that.

Our marriage has always been a partnership.

We are subject to each other in different areas of our lives.

Sarah is in charge of some stuff, I am in charge of other stuff.

Most of the time we discuss what ever it is and agree on what to do.

We are subject to each other.

Is that wrong?

Is Jesus angry at us for being so?

A lot of how we understand a wife being subject to her husband will depend on how the husband understands being the head.

As Christ is the head.

What was Christ like?

What is Christlike behaviour?

We know that Christ was not a bully.

He did not demand that people do as he said.

He did not hit, abuse, insult, domineer, silence, those he loved.

He loved them.

He invited them to walk with him.

He encouraged the downtrodden, and chastised wrongdoers.

Those who would dominate he put in their place.

Those who were treated as worthless, he treated as invaluable.

So, when we think about a wife being subject to her husband,

For the husband is the head of the wife

just as Christ is the head of the church

we need to think about how Christ was with others, and how Christ is with us.

If the wife is to be subject to her husband, what is the husband to be like.

Husbands,

love your wives,

just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Eph 5:25

Husbands, love your wives.

Love.

What is that like. What does Paul think Love is?

Love is patient;

love is kind;

love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1Cor 13:4-7

Husbands love your wives,

just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

As on the night before he died,

Jesus took a loaf of bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.”

1Cor 11:23-24

And the next day he suffered and died on the cross, he gave himself up for his church. He gave himself as completely as was humanly and divinely possible.

That is how Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

And that is how husbands are to love their wives.

My body for you.

Self sacrificing.

So we know form Paul what Love is.

We know how Christ loved and gave himself up for the church.

It is these two things we need to remember when we say wives, be subject to your husbands.

What the wife is to be subject to is the husband who is to love his wife.

To be subject to a man who will love her, will support her, who will give himself as much as he can for her.

This is what a wife is to be subject to.

And nothing less.

Paul means this as a two way street. It isn’t about one being subject and the other in charge. Rather Paul is saying what a marriage should be like.

Subjection to love.  

Love that does not insist on its own way.

So, wives, you are to be subject to a husband that loves you, a love that does not insist on its own way.

And it within such a marriage, where each person can say to each other, my body for you, and in such way we witness the love Christ has for us and for his church.

Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.

Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.

Mark 6:31

The twelve apostles have returned from their first mission. 

They had been sent off in pairs.

Jesus had ordered them to take nothing with them except a staff sandals and a single tunic.

No money, no food, nothing. 

Their mission would be tough.

They would be reliant on the goodwill of others.

On their mission they cast out demons, healed the sick and called everyone to repentence.

This was the first mission by the first believers.

It must have been an amazing and exciting time.

The fervour of new belief, the conviction of God’s truth and the immense sense of purpose, combined with the authority to heal and exorcize must have been quite a heady feeling for this bunch of ordinary everyday men.

Filled with their excitement, they return to Jesus to tell of all they had done and seen, the wonders and the let downs, the anger they would have encountered and the sheer joy they shared in.

We can imagine them all talking over each other, each insisting their story was more significant. They were coming and going, some were hungry, others needing to see their families and friends others coming with serious questions, others needing affirmation, others arguing with each other about what was really happening. The whole scene is a hustle and a bustle, energy flying around everywhere until Jesus says:

 Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.

Now, Jesus could be saying this because he thinks the whole scene is getting out of control, and it that is possible.

All this energy isn’t helping anyone.

So much energy on things that have happened things that are in the past, this isn’t allowing the present to be.

But there is a greater lesson in what Jesus says to the apostles.

There is a greater lesson in these words to us.

Jesus is affirming in their energy, yet he commands them to use it differently

Come away.

He doesn’t tell them to go away.

He tells them to come with him.

He is going to go with them.

They are to go away with him, not apart from him.

He isn’t sending them off to sort themselves out.

His being with them is integral to what they are going to do.

We need to go away and be with Jesus.

It is important that we have time to ourselves, to reflect upon what we have been doing looking at our ministry and thinking about how we can use our time and talents better.

But it is even more important that we take Jesus with us as we do this.

Invite him into those conversations.

Listen to what he says about what is going on.

Be present to yourself and be present to Jesus.

 To a deserted place, all by yourselves

With Jesus they are going to go somewhere where they won’t be interrupted.

This may be even more of a challenge to us than it was to the apostles.

We need to escape from 24 hour TV Facebook, Twitter, email, mobile phones.

All of these things are distractions from reflecting on what we do.

All these things are distractions from time spent listening to Jesus.

When we are hooked up to the computer phone or TV, we are in reality pushing Jesus out of our space.

We are distracting ourselves to the point where he is just a small thing that occupies a small space in our lives.

Come away to a deserted place, all by yourselves.

Remove the distractions; be present to Jesus in your life.

And rest a while.

Rest.

The time spent away from everyone and everything, just spent with Jesus is a time a rest, a time of refreshment, a time to stop and be.

This is crucial time.

If we spend all our time racing around and doing and being busy, we can’t be who we need to be.

We can’t be who Jesus needs us to be.

It is important that we rest after doing.

We need to stop and contemplate what it is we have been doing.

If we just keep doing and doing, there is no way we can know if any of it has been of any good.

The times we stop are important.

We need to rest and refresh ourselves.

But also note, that Jesus says “for a while”

This is not a permanent rest. Jesus isn’t suggesting we full stop. It is a rest.

None of us are any use to each other, ourselves, or to Jesus if we aren’t rested and have given ourselves time to reflect on what we have been doing.

None of us are any use unless we stop our busyness, be still, and be present for Jesus.

While it is true that while we are working in our ministries, we are doing his work, it is also true that when we are resting from our work, we are to be resting in his presence.

Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.

In our society today, busyness is seen as a badge of honour. To say I worked a 70 hour week is to be seen as something praiseworthy and admirable. But Jesus tells us something different. By all means, do your work, and do it well. Give yourself to it completely. But remember also to rest, rest completely, and within that peace and quiet away from doing, be present to Jesus. 

Homily for Trinity Sunday

"We know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. 

He comes stating what he knows, what he understands about Jesus.

Nicodemus says  “We know”.

We know.

Nicodemus thinks he is being positive and complimentary to Jesus by saying what he does.

He thinks he is showing an awareness of what is happening.

He thinks he is showing an awareness of who Jesus is and where he is from.

Jesus’ answer shows him how far off he is:

"Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

Jesus has heard what Nicodemus has said.

He hears the long struggle Nicodemus has had with his thoughts to get to this point.

Jesus sees that Nicodemus has reached a certain point of understanding.

It’s not that Nicodemus is wrong.

Not at all.

Rather it is just that his understanding is at a certain stage.

Jesus’ reply reveals the greater depth that Nicodemus is ready for.

This is how this Jesus stuff works.

We come along thinking we understand it, or have some idea of what it is we are doing, only to have our concepts changed or altered or enhanced.

It never is how we think it is.

Our understandings of

who Jesus is,

where he is from

and what he did,

and what he will do in our lives

is always different than what we discover when we open ourselves to listen and be present

rather than insisting on our understanding and ideas.

And it is like that when we come to church. “We know this is what goes on here. We know that Jesus is here. We know…..”

And when we do approach church or our faith in such a way and don’t allow ourselves to be present to what is really going on, we may miss what is really happening. We are like Nicodemus.

But Jesus is like Jesus in the passage we heard.

We think you have got it, we understand what it is all about and our place in it, and then Jesus comes along with something that will make us realise that our understanding is only a pale reflection of what it will be.   

This is the way of faith.

This is the way of the journey. 

We learn to a certain point and feel our way around that and feel comfortable in it and then can state it with some certainty.

Then it is revealed to us that it actually goes deeper.

This is how faith works.

Whether you have been doing this for 70 years or this is your first time here.

Words or phrases we think we understand are all of a sudden shown to have a meaning far beyond what we thought. And that is a wonderful thing.

Faith is journey, not an on and off, not a left or right, not an up or down, not a dark or light. It is all those things. We stumble run jump and crawl our way through it all.

As Jesus pulls Niocodemus out of his understanding into a place where it can grow even further,

he does the same with us.  

When we say, “we know” Jesus listens and invites us to go deeper.  

And the way we are asked will always depend on where we are, and how ready we are.

And how the asking happens will depend on how present we are to what is happening.

It may come from being at church,

or it may come while watching some rubbishy thing on the telly.

 It may come from a sound a baby makes,

or it may come from the way the wind feels. 

As Jesus says to Nicodemus:

"The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Being present to God does not mean understanding what it all means. It is rather a state of gentle readiness.

Saying “we know” is really saying “we are ready to know more.”

Homily for Easter 5

God is love,

and those who abide in love

abide in God,

and God abides in them.

At the end of the Gospel according to John there is a section which states:

But these are written so that you may come to believe that

Jesus is the Messiah,

the Son of God,

and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The purpose of the gospel is to tell people about Jesus, so that they will believe. By hearing or reading the Gospel, they will understand, and feel, that he is the Son of God, and because he is the Son of God, it is a good idea to follow him and live and love according to his way.

The first letter of John has a different purpose.

It is written for people who have accepted the Jesus as Son of God idea.

It is written for people who are following Jesus.

It is written as a kind of set of proofs or “how to’s”

It is like a users manual of Christianity.

Kind of.

The wonderful section today is such a section.

This magnificent writing that slowly spirals around,

gradually removing words and adding new ones,

 that ever so slightly, but significantly deepen the meaning.

The spiral reaches points that are no more definable or alterable.

They are so pure and perfected that they have to be left as they are.

God is love,                                                  and those who

abide in love

abide in God,

and God

abides in them.

It is a perfected sentence. It is beyond refining.

It is dense in its collected meaning from all that has gone before.

It is resonant in experience and wisdom.

It is filled with truth and depth.

God is                                    love

and     those who

abide              in                                                                     love

abide              in                       God

and                                                                              God

abides            in                                                                                       

them

As God is love, so where love is, God is,

and the permanence of love in us

means that we are permanently dwelling in God

and God in us.

This presence of love is proof of the presence of the Spirit of God,

and the presence of the Spirit

is the guarantee of the mutual indwelling of God and us.

This is the meaning.

Union with God.

The letter expresses this in terms of mutual indwelling.

God in us, and us in God.

God is Love.

Love can come from no where else, other than God.

Not only is God the source of all love, he is love itself.

Anyone who really loves, is of God, and knows God.

On the other hand,

as God’s very being is love,

someone who is loveless or selfish shows they do not know God.

It might pay to pause there for a moment.

Our

selfishness, nastiness, and  jealousy,

our pettiness,

our need to always be right,

our self absorption,

our ego driven need for recognition

are all signs that we are missing the point about God.

They show the parts of our hearts that God doesn’t get a look into.

God does not abide in such thoughts, feelings, and actions.

When we act, think or feel in such a way,

we are pushing God out of the way.

These are acts, thoughts and feelings that we own and they come from us.

Love is different.

Love doesn’t belong to human nature.

It doesn’t start from our side toward God.

It is the other way. God started it.

He sent his son to reconcile us to himself by the sacrifice of his life.

The love of God

incarnate in Jesus

has to become

incarnate in Christians,

and love which is received

in and with

divine life,

must like that life

be active.

In God we see love as the sacrifice of self for humanity.

It is that sense of sacrifice and giving of self

to our fellow brother and sisters that we need to follow.

 God is

 love,

and those

who    abide in               love

           abide in              God

and                               God

         abides in                       them.

Over the past few weeks, a group of us have been exploring the work of Julian of Norwich. She had many things to say about God’s love. Her whole understanding of God could be reduced to God is love.

After receiving her visions, and contemplating, meditating and praying upon their meaning, she wrote:

I desired in many ways to know what was our Lord's meaning.

And fifteen years after and more, I was answered in spiritual understanding, and it was said:

What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing?

Know it well, love was his meaning.

Who reveals it to you? Love.

What did he reveal to you? Love.

Why does he reveal it to you? For love.

Remain in this, and you will know more of the same.

But you will never know different, without end.

Love was his meaning.

God

is love,

and those who abide

in love

abide in God,

and God

abides in them.

 

Homily for Easter 2

DOUBTING THOMAS by Bob Kessel after Caravaggio

Do not doubt but believe.

The risen Christ and the doubting Thomas.

This is the whole climax of John’s Gospel. In this interaction, the whole essence of faith, and what belief actually is and how it works in illustrated in one scene.

Jesus has visited the disciples and given them the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is in many ways the Pentecost of Johns Gospel. This must have been a huge joy filled occasion.

But, Thomas, was not there.

We don’t know what he was doing, but we can hazard a guess that he was on his own, mourning the death of Jesus.

Thomas, of all the disciples shows the most human qualities. He is impulsive, he is forthright. He doubts.

He is called the twin, or didymus. Didymus can mean twin, or double tongued. It can mean being in two minds. It is the idea of there being another side to what there is. The two sides we are dealing with here are faith and doubt.

So, the disciples come and tell Thomas in all their joy, “We have seen the lord!”

Thomas is sceptical. “What do they mean, seen? What have they actually seen? How can it possibly be Jesus? We all saw him die on the cross.”

Thomas has so many reasons why it could in no way be Jesus that they have seen. They must be deluded, or have been conned by some charlatan.

He states his criteria to them. 

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

Physical proof. Unless he can see or feel, he will not believe.

Seems fair enough.  That’ll show them.

A week later, Thomas gets his chance.

What he had suggested, probably in an attempt for them to see reality, happens.

Jesus appears, and says:

"Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.   Do not doubt but believe."

Jesus is saying “Whatever you need Thomas, whatever it will take, whatever it is you have asked to believe that I am Christ who has conquered death, who has risen and is now here in front of you. If you need to touch, here I am. Thomas, I will do anything it takes for you to believe.”

Thomas is obviously overwhelmed. He doesn’t need to touch Jesus. He only needs to see him, and he says:

"My Lord and my God!"

Jesus has managed to bring Thomas from doubt to faith.

From a fading belief to a full profession of the Christian: belief in the divinity of Jesus.

The thing here is that Jesus wants Thomas to believe. He wants him to be with him where he is.

This is same for us, for everyone. Jesus wants us to be with him. He knows that we are all different. He knows that we all here today in different stages of our journey.  He meets everyone where they are. He meets those who don’t know him, and patiently waits.

But Jesus doesn’t let him off the hook so easily:

"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

And it is here that we come in. This is really said to us. It was said for the first believers who were not present at the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. It was said for all those who have followed since.

 

But we have all been like Thomas at some point.

Moments where we have doubted parts of the faith, or even doubted the whole thing.

Dark times where it seems there is no point, and God has forsaken us.

Doubt is a part of life.

Doubt is a part of faith.

It is impossible to have faith without doubt. They are two sides of the same thing.

Without doubt there cannot be faith.

To have doubts means we have accepted that faith is not static but is a journey.

Thomas was despairing because the one who he was following had been put to death.

In that darkness he was doubting all he had been through. 

But from that doubt, he found faith.

From within his doubt, Jesus pulled out faith.

Within our doubt, we find faith.

Jesus says to Thomas, “Do not doubt, but believe.” 

He wants Thomas to believe, he wants us to believe.

Jesus is prepared to meet us where we are, and that can, and often is, in a place of doubt.

Unlike Thomas we don’t Jesus physically coming to find us. But what we do have is the knowledge that those who have not seen and yet have come to believe are blessed.

To stay in a state of doubt is not what we want to do, and it is not what Jesus wants us to do. As he says to Thomas: Do not doubt, but believe.

However, there is the idea that from within doubt there is belief, within the despair there is hope. From within doubt, faith will arise.