For the morning of Easter 2

Acts 5. 27-32;

Revelation 1.4-8;

John 20.19-31

DOUBT!  What a thing

THOMAS doubted, but so did they all.

It’s fairly clear that all the accounts of the Resurrection are full of how incompetent and disorganised the disciples are.

We hear of Thomas’ doubt today, forgetting all about the how the disciples dismissed the women’s tale of an empty tomb as nonsense (Luke 24.11).

It was just Thomas’s bad luck not to have been there when Jesus appeared to the others. But, even if his doubts were no deeper than those of the rest, Thomas will always remain “Doubting Thomas”.

For those of us who find it all very difficult, and make a lot of mistakes…he will always be our patron saint.

“I never have had one doubt,” wrote John Henry Newman, reflecting on the “perfect peace and contentment” he had enjoyed since his admission into “the one fold of Christ”

Evangelicals make much of “assurance”. “Blessed assurance,” they sing, “Jesus is mine.” The same Evangelical confidence rings out in Timothy Dudley-Smith’s great hymn, “Thine be the glory”. “No more we doubt thee, glorious prince of life” we sing, and while we sing it, we mean it!

Some of my more earnest friends tell me that I shouldn’t have any doubts.  They tell me that it will make me unstable (it’s a bit late to warn me about that). 

So there appear to be TWO ways to live faith – either in the belief that I won’t have any doubts at all, or in the belief that doubt is bad and damaging.      

There is, however, another way!  From this perspective, doubt is not the enemy of faith. Certainty is the enemy.  It is all about holding both your beliefs and doubts with integrity and in a balance.

The prophets of this third way were two poets, Tennyson in the 19th century and R. S. Thomas in the last. The profound insight of Tennyson’s In Memoriam is that uncertainty and religious commitment are not incompatible. Doubt and faith can and do coexist.

Tennyson knew that “calm despair and wild unrest” can be “tenants of a single breast” – as he said.

 There lives more faith in

 honest doubt,

 Believe me, than in half

    the creeds.  (he said that as well)

It is impossible to be certain, but it is possible, as Job did, to turn in the right direction.

 I stretch lame hands of faith,

 and grope,

And gather dust and chaff,

and call

 To what I feel is Lord of all,

 And faintly trust the larger

      hope.

For R. S. Thomas, faith and doubt are inseparable. Prayer becomes:

 . . . leaning far out

 over an immense depth, letting

 your name go and waiting,

 somewhere between faith

     and doubt,

 for the echoes of its arrival.

       “Waiting”

Thomas also questioned whether prayer actually works

 He is that great void

 we must enter, calling

 to one another on the way

 in the direction from which

     he blows.

            “Migrants”

Back to Doubting Thomas — In the reading we hear he is granted, as were the others, the opportunity to see and touch the risen Lord.

Jesus says to him: “Be unbelieving no longer.” (Thus, correctly, the Revised English Bible; the New Revised Standard Version’s “Do not doubt” is a mistranslation.)

This is an invitation to trust and obey — not a promise of certainty. Thomas’s response is to worship the risen Lord. Does that conclude his doubting? Possibly, but if we are half as complicated creatures as it seems we are, maybe, on many a Monday morning, he is still “Doubting Thomas”.

And on this second Sunday of Easter, we can see the aftermath of the great festival of Easter – it took weeks to arrive, and it departed quickly – but do we REALLY understand what it really means?

I read in the newspaper that the press officer at a major supermarket chain got in trouble in Holy Week for getting the theology behind her company’s seasonal campaign a bit mixed up.

The unfortunate employee first put out a press release saying that the supermarket’s range of Easter eggs and other seasonal products was part of the traditional celebration at this time of Christ’s birthday. She quickly amended it to say that the eggs represented Christ’s rebirth, before a final version vaguely guessed that it might have something to do with death and resurrection.

To be fair, of all the Easter mysteries we observe this this one may be the hardest to unravel: why we commemorate the death and resurrection of the most important figure in human history with bunny rabbits that lay chocolate eggs in spring gardens.

To be fairer still, despite the stick she took for it, her changing explanation was not such a bad stab at interpreting the significance of the Easter story. Of course Christians believe the central point about the Triduum — the three sacred days that began last night with the Holy Thursday commemoration of the Last Supper and conclude triumphantly on Easter Sunday — is that it marks both a death and a rebirth.

And just as sure as you can’t have Easter Day without Good Friday, you also can’t have a Christian Festival without a great deal of confusion.

As the world marches onward to a more secular understanding of the mysteries of faith, Christians are being left behind in the struggle for a platform to explain the importance of our faith.  No Wonder Christians doubt!  If only I could persuade them that doubting is not the end of the world (or even the end of faith), it is merely part of the journey!

DOUBT!  What a thing

If I had one wish, I don’t think I would wish to have ‘no doubt’.  I don’t think I would wish to get a letter from God, explaining everything about life, love, war, justice, relationships, money, greed, guilt, happiness, hatred and all the other things. 

I think that part of the Technicolor journey through life is all about looking for certainties, and not actually finding them.  It is all about us considering, thinking, praying, hoping – these are the processes that have given us the greatest music, art, literature and poetry in the history of humanity.

So what about St. Thomas the Apostle?  Well, many of the ancient texts are attributed to him.  It seems that after a shaky start, he really set about moving forward in the ‘building the church’ stakes.  It is reported that he witnessed the assumption of Mary into heaven; he then left to spread the Gospel.

Reports have him evangelising Syria and Persia, then he travelled as far as Western India, then to Southern India.  Indeed the various denominations of modern Saint Thomas Christians ascribe their unwritten tradition to the end of the 2nd century and believe that Thomas landed at Maliankara in AD 52

In great controversy, it is held that St. Thomas then travelled to Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador to evangelise the Mesoamerican civilisations there. 

I couldn’t even begin to speak about the writings of Thomas, and the generations of Christians who have grown up in all corners of the world in Churches and Traditions dedicated to St. Thomas.

If this is the product of DOUBT, then I will be praying for more doubt for myself…

Evensong Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter

Almost every story in the Bible has meaning that has been lost over the years, things that didn’t get taught and things people thought was unimportant.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus is no exception to this.

Emmaus was a famous place – In 169 BC Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria besieged and captured Jerusalem.  It was three years before the Jews could regroup; but, under Judas Maccabaeus, they launched their fight for freedom.  In 165 BC the Syrian commander detached 5000 infantry and 1000 cavalry from his main forces to travel by night and to ambush the Jews.  Judas found out and marched against the main Syrian camp at Emmaus - Judas said to the troops. “Remember how our ancestors were saved at the Red Sea when Pharaoh was pursuing them.  Now let us call on heaven, to remember his covenant with our ancestors and to destroy this army confronting us today.  Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who ransoms and saves Israel.”  Judas’s army won the day.

The two disciples, heading for Emmaus, were heading for the site of the ancient victory.  Perhaps Luke imagines a glimmer of hope in their darkness?  Where God had acted before, he might do the same again. 

The disciples linked Jesus with Moses, and Moses was linked to Maccabaeus – In their minds he was from the same stable.   In Luke it says that Jesus was “a prophet mighty in word and deed….and we were hoping that this was the one who was to ransom Israel”. 

This is also how the trouble started in Holy Week.  You probably remember me saying before that it is difficult to understand why the crowds turned from the “hosannas” of Palm Sunday to the “crucify him” of Good Friday.  And why Jesus rode into town on a donkey and not a horse.  With the benefit of hindsight, I suppose they could have seen that this was a statement to the people – Jesus is saying “I am not Judas Maccabeaus”  He was not bringing political liberation, He was bringing the better liberation, salvation.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus have hope.  They wait for things to be better in the world.  Despite all that Jesus had told them their hopes of a political kingdom endure – a sort of King Jesus in the palace idea.  They had been told that the Kingdom of God (according to Luke) cannot be watched for, and they won’t be able to say “here it is” or “there it is”, it will be in them and amongst them. 

On the evening at Emmaus, they were still in the dark until Jesus broke bread with them – in that moment they see who Jesus really is.

Perhaps they understood what they must do, and why the last few days seemed to be terrible.

It’s strange that as soon as they understood, they went about their work and had huge success.  From the few disciples we are now significantly bigger as a church – some say as many as 2.1 billion people in 34,000 separate Christian groups.

So what about this journey from Emmaus for people of faith?  After the crucifixion and the resurrection, we have re-grouped taken the message to the world.

For me this means that we are living in the world, but we are also apart from the world.  Looking at things differently, and proclaiming our faith in many ways.

We need to be different in what we say and do – caring for the poor and the outcast as Christ did. 

So how do we look different?  How do people recognise us.

I always like to see people wearing crosses, crucifixes and other symbols of faith, because I like to believe that they are ‘standing apart’ from the crowd – making a declaration that they are one of the army that re-grouped in Emmaus, and marched on the world.

The truth is though, that most people who wear crosses aren’t religious, I don’t mind.  I like to pretend that they are ‘one of us’.

I read the church times a few weeks ago, the question was asked “Why do clergy generally wear black and not bright colours?” I waited patiently for the answers from well meaning clever clergy to be printed, and I was disappointed with the first few results, speaking about sin, denial and being miserable.  Then to my delight and surprise, The Revd Paul Wilkin from Essex gave the best answer.

He wrote that the late Johnny Cash the American Country singer-songwriter (and Christian) known for wearing only black said;

“Well, you wonder why I always dress in black.  Why you never see bright colours on my back, and why does my appearance seem to have a sombre tone.  Well, there’s a reason for the things I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because he’s a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read, or listened to the words that Jesus said, about the road to happiness through love and charity.  Why?  You’d think He’s talking to you and me.”

Johnny Cash was saying that he needed to live in the world and still be apart from the world.  He was saying that all our lives need to be a statement about those who have no voice.

Whatever the world does to us, we will still be part of the unstoppable force that regrouped after the resurrection to plan for world domination – not in the name of power, profit or ideology, but in the name of that great liberation, that excellent freedom – salvation.

Whether you wear black to remind yourself and the world of the poor and downtrodden, or whether you wear a crucifix or cross, a dove a fish or a if you have a multicolour tattoo, wear it with pride, because it speaks of your belonging to the church of God, the army of the Prince of Peace.

I was looking for some modern quotes about Christianity, and I found one that was quite interesting.

Sam Pascoe said;

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it moved to America and became an enterprise."

I would like to be able to add – and it came to Wales and started another worldwide revolution of justice and peace.  I might be a dreamer, but if we don’t think big….well, it might as well never have happened.

`

Morning Sermon for Easter 3

As Saul went along the Damascus Road (Acts 9) he was breathing threats and murder against anyone connected to Jesus. But as he walked he was struck down by a bright light and he heard a loud voice,

‘Saul, Saul. Why do you persecute me?’ And Saul replied, ‘Who are you, Lord…’

There is no question that Saul was a driven man, his life’s work was to wipe the memory of this break-away sect, from the face of the earth.

This was Saul, a man committed to the murder of Christians was now confronted by the awful truth he had sought to bury.  His old life was over, and it was time for changes in his life. His life, even his name, would never be the same again.

Looking at the readings as a whole, they are all about vocation (ahem! two weeks before Vocation Sunday – where they might have been a better fit)

Two of the readings that are oft quoted by ordinands as part of their calling, discernment and formation as priests and deacons, the Acts reading, about feeding lambs and sheep, and the conversion of Saul, all speak directly of the God who calls.

This is the transforming power that God can exercise in the lives of people. The transformation that calls people to radically evaluate what they do or think or say, in the light of the presence of Jesus in their lives…listening and responding to God.

God speaks in all kinds of ways to us – it may be in words that we can clearly understand in our own minds, or it may be through the words of others, or it may just be in the events of that day that are happening all around us.

In today’s gospel reading (John 21:1-19), the risen Lord, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, is making breakfast for his disciples.

It’s an incredible account because of its simplicity. Jesus should surely have been marching on the Temple, showing the wounds of crucifixion, and just showing that he was alive to the authorities. Surely he should have been strolling around the city of Jerusalem, with a smile of victory, approaching all of those people who shouted for his death… Surely he should have just been gloating in his triumph over death…

But maybe those would be our actions – Jesus had no such thoughts. He bore no malice, no hatred, no resentment… There was no need for any revenge or hostility. In his victory over death he had merely accomplished what he had come to do, and now it was time for breakfast.

It’s a strange incident that is reported in the Acts of the Apostles.  Throughout the Bible time and time again God is giving people second and third and fourth chances to come back to him and enjoy a relationship. God gives us the freewill to make up our own minds about where we put God in our lives. Painful as that answer may be sometimes for God, he would have it no other way. 

Jesus made those disciples breakfast because he still had something to teach them. Three times he questioned an increasingly frustrated Peter, ‘Do you love me ?’ Three times Peter said that he did – just as three times he had rejected Jesus prior to the crucifixion. But whilst Jesus repeated the question he also gave him something different each time as well. First Jesus told Peter to ‘Feed my lambs’, then he said to ‘Tend my sheep’, and the third time he told him to ‘Feed my sheep’.

I love this story of simplicity and friendship, because that’s what it is.  The Lord, the Son of God with his friends, giving them the strength and belief they need to go into the world themselves and ‘feed and tend the sheep’.

Sometimes, however, I wish God would zap some people, like he zapped Saul, turning him into Paul.  However, I know that that isn’t the way that people can come to love and trust God.

The real answer is for us to be with others, sharing the best God has given us, as a testimony to what God has done for us.

We should never give up on God, because he never gives up on us.

Lent 3

A vicar parked his car on double-yellow lines a large city because he was short of time and couldn’t find a space.
Then he put a note under the windscreen wiper that read:

“I have driven up and down this street 10 times. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment…Forgive us our trespasses.”

When he returned, he found a ticket from a traffic warden along with this note:


“I’ve walked up and down this street for 10 years. If I don’t give you a ticket I’ll lose my job….Lead us not into temptation.”

It’s right to be thinking about temptation in Lent, and indeed our trespasses.  Next week is Laudate Sunday, or Mothering Sunday, it is that brief moment of respite in Lent when we can relax a little.

But today, it’s all about repentance.

“Repent.” In the gospel today (Luke 13:1-9) we hear Jesus saying, “unless you repent, you will all perish”

The word REPENT has some rather scary connotations.  In my mind, it is associated strongly with some of the non-conformist preachers of the past, and the image of them banging their fists on the pulpit, with a terrified congregation below.

But actually repentance doesn’t need to be like that at all. What repentance is, is a turning away from the things we have done wrong, the things that have hurt God or hurt other people, or things that we have failed to do which we should have done, and saying sorry.

It is a commitment on our part to accept our failures, and try and improve our lives. In fact therefore, repentance is actually a great gift from God. It is the chance to say sorry and begin afresh. It is a chance for us all to get closer to God.

That sense that God will give us a clean slate, if we are earnestly repenting, is something that continues to mystify me, and has done so since my childhood.

So, it was good to think more deeply about this particular mystery for this sermon.

REPENTANCE is best understood in stages, and the first stage is to recognise the areas where we are failing or have failed.

There is nothing that God can’t accept, there is nothing that he isn’t willing to accept in our pasts, as long as we are recognising that what we have done or failed to do was wrong, and we are sorry.

We are always suspicious of anything that is free, but this is free.  Sometimes we may not be able to forgive ourselves, but God can forgive us.

The second stage is to realise that just because forgiveness is free, repentance needs work, lots of work. 

Being sorry, really sorry about something, is the hard part.  God forgives us, and that might make it worse.  We know that to be really sorry we need to change the way we are, how we see others, and sometimes being sorry means changing a lot.  God makes no unreasonable demands about repentance and forgiveness, we do that to ourselves, and others do it to us.

It all seems very easy, but I’m sure we’ve all tried saying sorry at some time and found it very difficult.

There are a whole host of reasons why;

·     There may be the feeling that actually we did the right thing, maybe in the wrong way

·     The person we shouted at got what was coming to them, the insurance company we were less than honest with have taken plenty of our money in the past

·     The person we gossiped about gossips about us, and so on.

But, as Christians we can find no such justification, Jesus offers us a gospel which talks of accepting that people will hurt us but still loving those people.

It was particularly poignant, when Bishop Dominic said in his first Lent talk that he wished he had loved his parishioners more when he was a parish priest. 

I think that’s true of us all, spending more time with people, and not with books, praying with people, and not just for people.

Another reason why we may find it hard to seek repentance, is that we may have gone too far down a particular road. The mistake has got bigger and bigger and we are too proud to say we have been wrong all along.

Again, of course, it’s no excuse. Carrying on with something just because you’ve always done it is sheer stupidity if you now know that thing too be wrong.

Again, it is important to stress that God is not interested in our pasts, whatever they contain, as long as we are looking to do better in the future, and commit our lives to him. We cannot allow pride or anything else to get in the way.

So, it is important to recognise the areas that are damaging our lives and our relationship with God, too much time worrying about the past ruins the future.

The American philosopher, Mortimer Adler, before he was eventually converted to Christianity he was asked why there had been such reluctance in the past. He replied that he had been close to accepting Christianity on a number of occasions but didn’t do it. He went on to say,

“If one is born a Christian, one can be light hearted about living up to Christianity, but if one converts by a clear conscious act of will, one had better be prepared to live a truly Christian life. So you ask yourself, are you prepared to give up all your vices and weaknesses of the flesh.”

This is a bit daft , although I understand what he means.  There is no difference really.  The reality is that the standards Jesus calls for are very different from those so often seen in the world today, and as Christians we must follow and proclaim Christ’s standards whatever the cost to ourselves. As we go through Lent we reflect closely on the journey Christ took for us, it is quite sobering when we think of how little we are asked to do for him, we don’t do a lot to wear the badge of the Christian do we?

What do we do then?

We come to church, we are the gathered church, the people of God together.  Whatever particular tradition, whatever language we use, wherever we are, it is what we are called to do

The Bible tells us that we should pray at all times.  Again it isn’t something God needs from us to make him feel better, it is a gift to us a way of getting closer to him, a way of asking for help and guidance, a way of giving thanks or confessing, and it’s a way of listening to God it is also a way of joining our prayers with others, to make a real difference.

Community is essential as a Christian, John Wesley once said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are not intended to worship alone. Yes, there will be times for private prayer and Bible study, but we are also called to support and care for one another. 

If Christianity is to be taken seriously then we must live out the Gospel in our everyday lives...we will be judged by the world for the things we say and do, and that reflects on the church. And Christ too is judged by our actions.

So there you have it, repentance is not only desirable, it is necessary.  It won’t bring quick answers to all the questions of life, it never is an easy road, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we will never make the same mistakes again, but we are called to be repentant, we are called to put things right, we are called to live our lives in love for others.

40 Days and 40 Nights

Sermon

Lent 1

Year C

We are off to a flying start on this the first Sunday of Lent.

The readings today remind us that as Christians we are a nomadic people.  We wander around in the wilderness trying to see what God wants of us, and how we can better understand him and his plan for us.  For some of us that means physically moving, but for all of us, it means questioning and challenging, finding new ways of being.

After his baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus goes off to the wilderness to get his head straight and to prepare for the work that would need to be done –and I think this is the pattern for us all.

The inhabited part of Judea at the time stood on the central plateau which was the backbone of southern Palestine; between it and the Dead Sea stretched a terrible wilderness some thirty-five miles across by fifteen miles, it was called JESHIMMON which means the devastation.  The limestone desert swoops 1,200 feet down to the sea, very little grows there, it is covered in jagged rocks.  This is where Jesus was taken to be tempted, this was his wilderness.

I’ve thought a lot about this part of the Gospel, it must be one of the most important and sacred parts of the Bible.  In Luke’s version, we heard today, it says Jesus full of the Holy Spirit was led into the wilderness.  In Mark, as usual, the words bring a more dramatic effect, we are told Jesus was driven into the wilderness, to start 40 days of fasting, prayer, loneliness and temptation.

This account is important because, I assume, the account would have been given to the disciples directly from the Jesus himself, and if this weren’t enough, it speaks to us on a different level, it plays into our imagination and our deepest needs and desires.  We all need to find some peace sometimes, to be in a place that helps us be with God, indeed that’s what Lent is all about, our creating a little bit of quiet wilderness for ourselves, where we can fast, reflect on life, read scriptures and pray.

A Whitbread Prize shortlisted book from a decade or so ago was Quarantine, written by Jim Crace.  He retells the story in a very different way.  Along with the dialogue of Jesus, the narrative sees him as a bit of an outsider at the beginning of his ministry. 

A religious visionary, but a bit of a loner and a drifter, turning his back on the traditions and ways of the day and heading out into the Judean desert for a 40 day retreat.

As Jesus takes to his cliff top cave, in the book, Crace describes Jesus praying out loud across the valley;

"The prayers were in command of him. He shouted out across the valley, happy with the noise he made. The common words lost hold of sound. The consonants collapsed. He called on god to join him in the cave with all the noises that his lips could make. He called with all the voices in his throat."

Crace, goes on to describe the temptations, all visited upon him by humans, and all bravely resisted with what can only be described as superhuman will.

In the Gospels, the order of the Temptations differ;

The FIRST temptation in LUKE’s gospel was to turn the limestone rocks into bread.  The temptation was not just for food at the time, but the question was being asked, would you bribe people with worldly things to follow you?  This is rejected by Jesus who quotes Deuteronomy “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. 

The SECOND temptation was on a mountain from which all the civilized world could be seen, “worship me and all this will be yours”.  This is the temptation to compromise. “Don’t set your standards so high! Bargain with me; compromise with evil and you can do more good!”

Jesus had an answer, also from the Book of Deuteronomy “Worship the Lord your God and Serve only him”.  It is a constant temptation to win by compromise. 

In the THIRD temptation Jesus found himself on the pinnacle of the temple where the Royal porch and Solomon’s porch meet, there was a drop of some 450 feet, down to the Kedron valley below.  This was the temptation to give the people sensations.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy again “Do not put your Lord God to the test”.  Jesus saw quite clearly that by producing wonders and sensations, he would lose integrity for the message that he was to bring.

BRIBERY, COMPROMISE or SENSATION; Jesus rejected these ways of control, these ways of exercising power and we should too. 

This challenge to Christ is also the challenge to the church, and it always has been.

When we are looking back at these events, where Christ walked the earth, the other important thing we should remember is, however compelling the stories in the Gospels are, they are for us to inform our acts and prayer today.  Not just good stories.

I think it’s a pity that churches aren’t historical reenactment societies, like those people who dress up and relive Civil Wars. 

It would be so much easier to just turn up, dress up and say a few words and go home. 

However, the truth of the matter is that we are called to be the church in the here and now, building on the past, but looking to the future, we are the living Church of God, here in the centre of this community.

That means we need to listen to God, listen to the people around us, and to reflect the outrageous love of God that permeates all things, and cannot be stopped.

I’m looking forward to the future of the church, debates about women bishops, same sex marriages in church and the dozens of other things that need to be discussed.  It will be a sign that we are the church of the future.

God is challenging us to engage with the world and answer with love.  During Lent, think about your lives with God, think about how he speaks to you, and think about the person who will emerge from your own wilderness, ready to take Christ to the world.

May God be with you on your Lenten journey.

Let us pray.

As the days lengthen and the earth spends longer in the light of day, grant that we may spend longer in the light of your presence O Lord.

And may those seeds of your word, which have been long-buried within us, grow, like everything around us, into love for you, and love for people; to become a visible declaration of your lordship in our lives. 

Grant, father, that this Lent there may be a springtime for our life in Christ.  Through the very same, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  AMEN

Perseverance, Prophesy and Perception

A vicar was walking down the street when he saw a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.

The group had surrounded a dog, and he was worried they were going to hurt it. "What are you doing with that dog?"

One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."

Of course, the reverend was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie."

The vicar stopped and got his breath, then the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."

Today is Candlemas (which is traditionally held on the 2^nd February or closest Sunday) and is one of the twelve great feast days of the Christian calendar.  In the Eastern church, this festival is called the Hypapante, literally meaning The Meeting in Greek.

Although in some churches candles are lit, the Candlemas name really refers to the practice of the Priest blessing the candles for the year, on the day.  It is also the day that the Christmas greenery from the church is taken down and the nativity set is put away for another year.

In Robert Herrick’s poem “Ceremony on Candlemas Eve” he writes;

“Down with the rosemary and so,

Down wit the bays and mistletoe;

Down with the holly, ivy, all

Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall”

So that’s the tradition!  What about the readings?  Well…

The Gospel reading for the day describes the event 40 days after the birth of Jesus, and was to complete Mary’s purification after childbirth and to perform the ‘redemption of the firstborn’, in obedience to the Law of Moses in Leviticus and Exodus.

Mary and Joseph brought their son, and two turtle doves for the sacrifice (which is what the poor did), because they could not afford a lamb, to the temple.

There they met Simeon, whom God had promised that he “should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord." (Luke 2:26)

He then prayed the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which was a prophesy of the redemption of the world by Jesus:

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32).
Simeon then had a prophecy for Mary: "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many; and for a sign which shall be spoken against, and a sword shall pierce your own soul too—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35).
The elderly prophetess Anna was there too, to tell all present that the child would be responsible for the salvation of all.
I bet Mary said to Joseph “it’s like Christmas all over again!” as they are being told things about their baby.  Prophecies that have taken a lifetime to deliver, prophesies that are awesome and scary at the same time.  In the temple, surrounded by the trappings of their faith.  What a picture!
It’s a great picture – where we hear the account of the prophesies fulfilled in the temple.  But that isn’t where it ends.  In this triumph of love, this is where the work of the Kingdom starts, however  it doesn’t remain within the walls of the temple – it eventually takes to the streets – taking that reality of the prophesies fulfilled to the people – though the work of Jesus and his Disciples.
Today, however, the lesson is not from the actions of Jesus, or his Disciples, it is in the person of Simeon and his actions.
Firstly, he is a man of perseverance.  The Gospel tells us that

“It had been revealed to (Simeon) by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ”

As the years passed, it would have been easy for him to give up, but he didn’t.  The sense that we are playing the long game, is quite alien to our culture today.  People demand quick rewards, but persistence and perseverance are important attributes that the church needs today more than ever.  It is always worth the wait!
Secondly, Simeon had perception.  His time spent waiting meant he was able to see what was unfolding before him, he was close to God.  After all, the reading tells us that “moved by the Spirit” he entered the Temple Courts.  Perception comes from prayer and with that he walked closely with God. 
Not any particular prayer, not any particular way of praying, but the sense that we can throw all our uncertainties, our concerns and our confusions up in the air, and somehow, as they fall back down, God will have put them into some sort of order for us.
I believe that as he held the Messiah in his arms, the child for whom he had been waiting, he knew, he knew that God’s purpose had been fulfilled, and full of perception he said;

Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; according to thy word.  For mine own eyes have seen thy salvation….

Maybe not in the beautiful words of the Book of Common Prayer.
Thirdly, Simeon was a man of prophesy.    He not only recognised the Messiah, he recognised his role too;

Which thou hast prepared in the sight of all people, A light to reveal you to the nations and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

This ran counter to the Jewish expectations of the Messiah, but Simeon delivered his prophesy anyway.  The shocking prophesy that the Christ was to be the Glory of the Jewish people, but also a light to reveal God to the nations!  Gentiles too?!?  Yes Gentiles too, you and me.
In the tradition of the Old Testament Prophets, Simeon’s message was shocking and devastating.  Knowing this, he told them that he was well aware that this would be a problem for many, saying;

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed”.

The Advent of the Messiah wasn’t going to be without difficulties for many. 
The end of the prophesy is not painless, as he turns to Mary, Mother of Jesus and says,
       “And a sword will pierce your own soul too”
Today, Candlemas, is the turning point from Christmas to Easter and we move from Incarnation to Atonement.  We, like Mary, are being prepared for the journey to the cross through Lent.
It is also half way between the winter solstice and spring equinox, half the winter is over (although you wouldn’t have thought that) and the days are getting lighter.  It is a day to change pace.
Finally, Simeon is, watching the Holy family leave the temple.  God has kept his word, and this man of Perseverence, perception, prophesy can rest.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Epiphany 4

27th January 2013

The game rock, paper, scissors is also known as roshambo, it dates back to the late nineteenth century Japan in its’ present form, however there are much earlier versions, with evidence of them dating back to the Han Dynasty, 200BC to 200AD.

The game is often used as a random way of selecting something.  A bit like flipping coins or drawing straws. Two people face each other, and they put a hand behind their back as a clenched fist, they count to three, and they randomly make the shape of a rock, paper or scissors.

Paper beats rock, scissors beats paper and rock beats scissors.

If both people choose the same item, no one wins, and the hand, as it were, is replayed.

There is a World Championship, held every year, and a UK and US tournament too, and to my mind, it is the most curious, strange game ever!

I say the game is one of the most curious because there none of the items are seen as better than the others, but each is used in a different way for a variety of purposes.  We need them all.

The other curious thing about the game is that it is or appears to be really quite random.  There are people who play in the championships that suggest that you can learn to spot non-random behaviour, but on the face of it, no hand is better than another, and the whole scheme is difficult to change, and impossible to predict.

At the 1030 service, I am going to attempt to play it with the congregation at our family Holy Eucharist, because it perfectly makes a point that needs to be made about the theme of the readings today.

Human beings are not all the same either, but all of us are vital for the good of the whole.  We can neither exist nor function without each other.

John Donne, the English poet, satirist, lawyer and cleric reminded people in his Meditation XVII that “…no man is an island”.  Written shortly after joining the Anglican Church, he explores the interdependence of all the faithful.  He continues in this very meditation to write;

“... any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee..”

In his search for what he called True Religion, Donne had finally determined that we all have a place, we are all unique, and we are all equal.

Rock, paper, scissors

In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, written about 54 AD, St. Paul is writing of his belief that we are all equal and part of the whole.

“Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of one body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in the Spirit we were all baptised into one body.”

He goes on to use the analogy of hands, eyes, ears and feet, being all part of a body.

He expands on this by saying that the parts of the body that seem weakest, are in fact, indispensible.  He also reminds us that all parts of the body have a purpose.

The First Letter to the Church at Corinth really does set the standard for how we think about Christian Community, how we value others and how we understand the tasks.

Alongside the image of the body and the equal parts, St. Paul also uses the phrases.

"all things to all men" (9:22), "through a glass, darkly" (13:12), and "when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child" (13:11).  Indeed at the end of this passage 1 Corinthians 13 starts, which includes the haunting and deeply reflective phrase.

"without love, I am nothing"

These images, and the teaching that goes with it, are critical for a church like ours.  We all have gifts, we all have roles and we all have a task to play in the future as we seek to grow and change.

We use what we have not for ourselves, but to contribute to the good of others.  Whoever they may be, however different they are to us, they are equal and part of the whole…an indispensible part of the body.

When St. Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, to the Corinthians (mainly Greeks) he had converted to the faith in the two years he stayed with them on his first missionary journey.

He knew that Corinth was a sort of intersection between Asia and Western Europe, and there was trouble!  Many nationalities passed through the region and with them they brought their polytheistic and local beliefs.  The people of the Corinthian church were all too happy to slip back to their old ways, so St. Paul is writing to remind them to keep their eyes on the prize.

Encouraging them to be imitators of Christ, he reminds them of their tasks, their uniqueness, and their value in the sight of God.

Rock, paper, scissors

Perhaps we can take a few moments in silence to think about that…and we will follow with a short reflection;

We pause to be conscious of that which makes each of us unique 



The colour of our eyes and hair and skin.

Our height and build.

The face that is ours alone.


The inner self that no-one else knows.



The abilities and disabilities that give us our potential
to create and grow as no-one else can.



The place where we live - the town or the city
the village, coast or countryside - that helps to make us
who we are.



Our interests and hobbies; our taste in music, books or fashion;
our likes and dislikes - all the things that add up to who we are.



Let us give thanks for who we are -
As individuals, each one unique in all humankind.


As humankind, where our individuality contributes to the whole.


Let us respect and celebrate our own uniqueness, and each other's too.  AMEN