Ritual, Laws, Love and the privilege of the Sabbath

“…he was grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5)

Mark 2:23-3:6 (Year B: First Sunday after Trinity, 3^rd June, 2018)

Sundays yesterday and today

Sunday used to be a time to meet up, to rest, to enjoy, to converse, to visit, to savour, to have a sing-song in a neighbour’s house and marvel at nature.  That is, Sunday in the rare auld times before 24-hour shopping, multi-channel TV and web surfing arrived. In secular France it is still a bit like Ireland in the rare auld times at least on Sunday mornings thanks to pockets of Gallic stubbornness in the face of global market pressure.

Here in Ireland, the political anoraks revel in gloomy current affair arguments first thing on Sunday morning while Ma and Da are frantically driving here and there to children’s sports events 50 Km away at 10am on Sunday morning. The regrettable arrival of ‘Saturday night mass’ in the early 1980s for what is now, let’s face it and be honest, the dwindling and ageing minority that attend church every Sunday was the last straw for Sunday morning gatherings especially in some areas and traditions (notwithstanding the good intentions and liturgical propriety of beginning – but not terminating – a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection on the eve of Sunday).

Of course, in addition to retail, hospitality and other Sunday workers there are millions of nurses, police officers, transport workers and others across the world doing essential work that we can often assume or take for granted until we find ourselves in a particular need.

Setting the scene

It is a Saturday when every Jew is expected to rest and do no ‘work’ (in modern day Israel the ‘weekend’ comprises Saturday and Friday, the latter being availed of by Muslims). And Jesus lands himself in trouble – again – and it is over what a decent and respectable Jew should be doing or not doing on a Sabbath day (see, for example, another Sabbath spat with the religious authorities in Luke 6:6-11)

Now the word Sabbath derives from the Hebrew word Sabat which means to stop, to cease or to keep.  And, so we have the seventh day of the week or the seventh week after every seven Sabbaths or the Sabbath year in which the land is left to rest from sowing. And after 49 years there is a Sabbath year during which, in biblical times, slaves and prisoners were set free and debts forgiven. God rested on the seventh day after ‘six days’ of creating. We, too, need to rest and stop regularly. Some of us are enjoying an early summer sabat here in the Northern Hemisphere.  Christians, in a way, still acknowledge the ‘last day of the week’ or the Sabbath that Jesus valued. After all, our ‘first day of the week’ – the day of the resurrection when we meet, hear, give thanks, break bread and are sent out again – begins liturgically on Saturday evening and lasts until Sunday evening.

So, what was Jesus doing on this particular Sabbath? He was ‘teaching in one of the synagogues’.  That’s what any decent Jewish Rabbi would do. But, a woman arrives on the scene. We are told that ‘a spirit’ had ‘crippled her for eighteen years’ and that ‘she was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight’ (Luke 6:11). There followed an extraordinary episode and conversation. Jesus ‘saw’, ‘called’ and ‘set free’.

He saw a person in pain and in a prison of social disdain.
He called that person over in front of everyone.
He set that person free from her ailment to the astonishment of all present.

The woman who was healed stood up straight in confidence.  She was able to stand her ground now and would never forget this moment. She immediately ‘began praising God’ (v. 13

We see and yet we don’t see. To see/guess/intuit the need of another next door, by the bus stop, in the pew at church is a great gift. We don’t need to be fussy busy bodies stirring up conversations or gestures that are more annoying than helpful. Yet, to offer a smile, a helping hand or even just a look to acknowledge the check-out worker at the supermarket and not just some anonymous being is a work of compassion.

Healing on the Sabbath

The point about Jesus healing on the Sabbath is that proclaiming the world of God, reaching out and healing are all linked in. The authorities that Jesus had to contend with had forgotten the meaning of Sabbath or, rather, had turned it into an absolute thing to which all else including human compassion must bow. This was the death of true religion – the placing of good principles and laws on a pedestal to the exclusion of all else.  Religious persons had forgotten that what God wants is mercy, 

compassion, and love. Yes, Jesus could have waited another 24 hours or so before healing this woman. But that was not the point.  Jesus was showing them and us that God is master of the Sabbath and along with it the 100s of other rules and conventions summed up in one command – to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbour in the here and now.  We, too, are in need of healing. Perhaps we need healing from our false gods?  Do we need to be healed from absolutes, reified traditions, literalism and disregard for real people in our present day real world? If we think that we are confronted with an awful choice between ‘obeying God’ and genuinely helping someone then the answer is clear: to help someone in need is to obey God!

The keeping of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments for all Christians and Jews alike. However, Jews and Christians, alike, have 9 other commandments to work on in such manner that all is in harmony!  In a letter to the early Christians in Rome St Paul writes (Romans 13:8-10):

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

There is the meaning of Sabbath – it means stopping from our normal routine and work but not stopping to offer help, support, encouragement and – who knows – healing as well. 

The special place of the Eucharist in healing

Thinking about healing – we may ask what is the special place of the special weekly gathering for Christians on the day of the Lord’s resurrection? That place in the weekly calendar is a very precious moment in our busy weeks to come before a compassionate God who delights to see us, hear us and touch us. This is why, for many Christians, the idea of celebrating the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the Sabbath day with the Eucharist make complete sense. We know from Acts 2:46 that the disciples met to break bread and pray together very regularly (it reads as ‘Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home [some translations have ‘from house to house’] and ate their food with glad and generous hearts’).

While the New Testament does not specify how often the early disciples met to break bread, it was a normal and regular part of their gathering and the association of what was to become the new Sabbath of the ‘Lord’s own day’ and the Eucharist is testified in a number of early sources such as, for example, the Didache (14.1) where we read that

And on the Lord's own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.

I approach the matter not as some obligation laid down by man but, rather, a wonderfully amazing opportunity to be part of such a celebration week after week. How could one not resist taking part!  Of course, there are many Christians who cannot participate in the Eucharist for one reason or another (an ordained may not be available within 100 KM or one may be confined to a hospital or a nursing home without access to the Eucharist or in some parts of the world Christians risk their lives meeting together). However, we have little excuse not to celebrate the Eucharist on Resurrection Day if we, as a community, have the means to do it. And what more excellent way to warm up for the Eucharist than a Vigil or early community morning prayer just before the Eucharist!! Some Eastern Christian traditions do Sunday in style by focussing on one major community celebration that is so good that it lasts for hours not including the socialising, partying and eating afterwards! They have never encountered the ‘clear the carpark within the hour’ syndrome.

Welcome changes in practice

We may rejoice that there is a renewed appreciation of the Eucharist as ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ and in the case of some churches in the reformation tradition  the practice of a weekly Sunday Eucharist as the principle service has been recovered. I say recovered because I am not aware of any evidence that the ‘mainstream reformers’ in the 16^th century sought to make the reception of holy communion less frequent. There was a legacy of bad pastoral practice whereby lay Christians did not receive communion except once or twice a year after a thorough spiritual scan and virus fix!. Given the difficulty of breaking this habit it is understandable that Sunday services omitted the Eucharist for most weeks of the month.

In the breaking of the Bread and the Word we are:

• Seen
• Called
• Healed and restored to a point where, like the woman in this story, we can stand up with honour and self-respect and are ready for whatever lies ahead.

The Eucharist can be a great time of healing because it is physical and ‘real-time’ in the way of a sacrament that involves outward signs and actions as channels of inward grace and healing.

It is time to hear the call this morning and go there. What a privilege if we have legs to walk, ears to hear and mouths to speak and receive and a place to meet where Word and Bread of Life are broken and the Wine of Joy is poured. 

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)

Happy Sabbath!

(words above = 1,844)

Prayer in support of life (week +1)

This has been a momentous week culminating in the historical outcome of the Referendum on the 8^th Amendment. It is not for want of effort, love and prayer that tens of thousands joined in rather than stand aside and remain silent.

This is not the time or place to analyse or react. Each one is free to be silent and composed in a prayerful and mindful attitude. Ireland will never be the same again and a dramatic change has been ushered in with far reaching consequences for all of us and for generations to come. It may take a bit of time for behaviour, norms, assumptions, practices and general attitudes to ‘catch up’ more fully with the rest of the world including other European countries. However, we should be under no illusion about what is now coming down the tracks. Noble attempts will be made to ameliorate some of the worst aspects of what is being proposed. However, the tide seems unstoppable now and one has to accept that while remaining implacably pro-life in deed and word.

Come Holy Spirit and console your people at this time.

Psalm

Psalm 21(22)   A prayer of complaint

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You are far from my plea and the cry of my distress.

O my God, I call by day and you give no reply; I call by night and I find no peace.
Yet you, O God, are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you set them free.

Glory be to the Father…..

Scripture Reading

Romans 12:21

 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Intercessions

For real compassion towards everyone….

For those working in our health care services at this time….

For legislators and those in positions of influence

For the transformation of our social conditions to enable people to choose life..

Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Our Father …..

Concluding Prayers

Lord God, Thank You for creating human life in Your image.

Thank You for our lives and the lives of those we love.

Thank You for teaching us through Scripture the value You place on life.

Help us to uphold the sanctity of life in our churches and community.

Give us the strength to stand up to those forces that seek to destroy the lives of those most vulnerable, the unborn, the infirm and the elderly.

Today we commit ourselves never to be silent, never to be passive, never to be forgetful of respecting life.

We commit ourselves to protecting and defending the sacredness of life according to Your will, through Christ our Lord. Amen

You are so loved as you are

“…For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

John 3:1-17 (Year B: Trinity Sunday, 27^th May, 2018)

Trusting..

John 3:17 speaks to people in all ages and cultures. The Good News (literally Gospel) is that someone has been sent to befriend us and to help us and to save us.  Trusting in this good news is the key. It may not be easy as many may feel left down and left out in their lives. ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). May this be repeated again: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Jesus is the Healer who seeks us out here and now. And when he finds us and we open the door we are gently faced with reality – now, completely and holding nothing back. And the Truth will set us free (John 8.32). And what a freedom it is.

And being lifted up..

Jesus, in being lifted up on the cross (‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32), lifts us up too. The word ‘exalted’ or hypsóōin Greek is used here and, also in Isaiah 52:13:

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

Part of that healing is facing, naming and ‘shaming’ our own inner demons. Only we can do this – through Jesus who is the Healer (a rare one-in-a-millionanam-chara or spiritual soul friend might also help). Those demons may reflect deep shortfalls, guilt, insecurities, hurts, resentments, past traumas – all buried deep in the psyche. But, ‘those who hide in him shall not be condemned.’ As it says in Psalm 33:23*.

There are experiences and memories in our lives that echo hurts. Deep hurts linger.  These concern things others said or did that wounded us. Perhaps, we experienced bullying in some context – at work, in the family or in the community. Perhaps someone said things about us or to us that were untrue and very undermining.  Perhaps we acted likewise towards another?  It is not easy – but we must learn to let go of these things. They belong now to Christ and are covered by his Cross. Letting go means acknowledging these things – facing them, naming them, addressing them and then letting go of them. The cross stands between us and these things and we can leave our baggage there so that we are free to move on.

Going for joy and freedom...

The evangelist Luke locates a freedom story in terms of those who are lost, outside the tent so to speak and not well regarded by society. He reports Jesus as saying during the encounter with Zacchaeus:

‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’(Luke 19:10)

As in John 3:17, we are told that God sent his only Son – before we knew or wanted or asked for it.  And He did this because he loves us as we are now and here not after some course of meritorious actions or assent to creedal matters. Actions and assent stem from a sense of profound freedom and freeing by a Gracious and outrageously compassionate God who turns normal rules of human justice upside down.

The liberation in store for us is spelt out further in the first letter of John as follows:

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. ’(1 Jn 4:14)

(words above = 569)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

As often is the case in the Gospel of John, the scene for an important teaching is a conversation between Jesus and someone who comes to him.

1-2:  Nicodemus slips out at night to see Jesus

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, 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.’ 

What did a leading religious figure do when he wanted to have a conversation with Jesus? He slipped out at night. May be he met Jesus in a secret location or, perhaps, where he was staying (or both). He was afraid and, yet, curious. Are there times and places where we can have safe conversations with Jesus in our own hearts?  Sometimes, we need to have an honest conversation – on our own – with the Saviour of the World and our best friend ever. Would we risk it? Nicodemus had a lot to lose. He was not only a leading member of the Sanhedrin but he belonged to the Pharisee party.

Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. (John 12:42)

We hear of Nicodemus again in John 7:50-53. And we meet him again in John 19:39 where he gives Jesus a royal burial. No doubt, according to John, we can conclude that Nicodemus was a ‘stand out’ guy who did not lose his soul in the group think. He stepped out – cautiously at first – and inquired of Jesus and thought it through and decided to follow him.

3-7   Spiritual re-birthing

Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. ’Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.”

These lines are rich in imagery as they bring to mind sight, Kingdom, birthing, ageing, water, spirit and flesh.  The conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is in full flow.  The Kingdom of Heaven is within each of us if we could see it. We must be reborn in the spirit to enter it. This reminds us of our own baptism. However, it also prompts us to recognise the Kingdom which is already here among us and within us as well as beyond and above us.

8-10   The Holy Breath of God blows where it wills

 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.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

The breath of God is the Holy Spirit. The love of God is breathed forth as the mutual love of Father and Son giving life and love to the whole world.

11-15   Belief as the way to life

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Nicodemus is still immersed in a this-worldly perspective. It is like a form of 1st century religious atheism. He needs to make a step and leap in trust. The truth is that he cannot make this leap without help from above. When Jesus is lifted up the cross we are lifted up too. The breath of God from the Cross generates new life.

16-17   The point of the Gospel

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

God has sent Jesus not to condemn but to save. If there is a judgment of any person to be made we must leave that to God. We all face judgment. Jesus stands beside us as does the Holy Spirit the helper to plead for us.  In this we are confident of being reborn and of seeing the Kingdom of God.

Do we really believe in the Holy Spirit?

“…When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13)

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 (Year B: Pentecost Sunday, 20^th May, 2018)

What about the Holy Spirit?..

The odd thing about Eastertide liturgy is that it ends with a bang!  After 40 days of Lent (plus a few days) and then 50 days from Easter through Ascension to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit ‘descends’ (after the ‘ascension’) and that’s it. There is no octave or no ‘SpiritTide’ following Holy Spirit (Pentecost) Sunday. It is straight into ‘Ordinary time’ or the time after Pentecost or a succession of Sundays including and following Trinity Sunday.

I have the impression that the Holy Spirit is a neglected person of the holy trinity in so far as we focus so much on God the Father and God the Son that the Holy Spirit – often explained as the mutual love between Father and Son gets a mention only occasionally. The sacramental practice of confirmation is a significant threshold moment in the lives of many young adults in most Christian traditions. Some observers remark, cynically, that it is a passing out ritual. There is sadly some truth in that. However, the mark of the Holy Spirit never leaves us. This is especially true if, at some point in our lives, we have tasted and experienced a moment of intense light and joy that seems to come from deep within and touches us so profoundly and stays with us in our conscious memory for the rest of our lives. If someone has not experienced this, yet, then that person has more living to do!

I believe in the Holy Spirit?..

Some years ago a famous theologian, Yves Congar, wrote a three part volume entitled ‘I Believe in the Holy Spirit’. He discussed not only the role of the Holy Spirit in transforming individuals but whole communities and, through them, the world.  Each time we recite the Nicean Creed on a Sunday we might take particular note of the words ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life….’

The Holy Spirit is the ‘other side’ of God. It is that person (face) that breathes on us and re-creates us. Since God is, strictly speaking, neither male or female (appellations of Father reflect our understanding and tradition) would it not be inappropriate to emphasise the very feminine dimension of the Holy Spirit? She breathes on us from all eternity as over the waters and breathes gently through our lives today until we join our last breath with hers. It is said that we do not know where she blows and where she comes from (John 3:8). Much of life is like that. We can never see what is around the corner of our roadway that leads to unfamiliar places: sometimes scary places and sometimes very restful places. We are witnesses to the first breath after birth and we are witnesses to the last breath when our loved ones slip into the next room (and what a breath that is).

The breath or spirit of God is all over the sacred scriptures composed by human minds, hearts and hands. The very first two verses of the Bible read as follows:

In the beginning when God created[a] the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2)

There are dozens of references to the breath or spirit of God coming upon us from the Psalms to the prophets to the Gospel of St John and the some of the apostolic letters. The breathing on the disciples is linked to the sending of the Holy Spirit:

 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:22)

But how do we know if we have received the Holy Spirit? As we journey through life we hope to grow in the Holy Spirit and in the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And to this may be added, from other passages of scripture: wisdom, courage and insight  (see, for example, Isaiah 11:2).

But, the proof of the pudding is in the eating – as the saying goes.  If we are not developing in a climate of peace, contentedness and real freedom – notwithstanding set-backs, betrayals, sicknesses and worries – then we need to check in with our hearts and minds (and perhaps with the occasional help of a trusted person who is wise and skilled in discernment). Am I on the right path?  Is there something missing? What is the Holy Spirit saying to me through others and myself ? We need to go back to the sources of our hearts where, mysteriously, the Holy Spirit is breathing.

A tragedy in the lives of many is a life not fully lived, potential not fully realised and fruit never borne. We do not live fully when we are stunted by fears, prejudices and false ideas about ourselves and others. We live more fully when we put our trust in God-who-is-love and see ourselves and the world as God-who-is-life sees us.

Many people (generally a minority nowadays) live in a prison of false religion with very incomplete notions of God, morality and tradition. They seek shelter in certainties, formulae and a particular literal and selective interpretation of some passages of the scriptures or tradition.  They seem to fail to see the bigger picture (but who can see the big picture? – we each catch only a glimpse).

Take five..

The culmination of Jesus’s teachings as reported in the Gospel of John is conveyed to us in five key pledges that we can trust and hang across our minds and hearts at the dawn of every day:

1. We are not alone (the Holy Spirit has been sent and continues to breathe on us) – John 14:18
2. We called to live in a new commandment of mutual love (that the world may see and believe) – John 13:34
3. The continuing help and presence of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed – John 16:13
4. Joy and peace, and with that, freedom are the fruit of that Holy Spirit (marking such gifts out from all else) – John 15:11
5. We will know the truth and the truth will set us free – John 8:32

The ‘New Commandment’ grounded in faith is key.  The origins of Pentecost (literally fifty days after the Passover) stem from the Jewish festival of Weeks – commemorating the giving of the law on Mount Sinai after the people wandered through the desert.  Today, the Holy Spirit gives the ‘Law’ and it is that we should love one another as God-who-is-love has loved us and dwells now in us. For God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him (1 John 4:16).  This indwelling of God-who-is-love means that his Law of love is written on our hearts and minds.  But, we must be open to the Holy Spirit in costly discipleship (D. Bonhoeffer). Martin Luther, while given to the occasional over-statement had a point when he wrote:

‘The Holy Spirit is given only to the anxious and distressed heart. Only therein can the Gospel profit us and produce fruit. The gift is too sublime and noble for God to cast it before dogs and swine, who, when by chance they hear the preached message, devour it without knowing to what they do violence. The heart must recognize and feel its wretchedness and its inability to extricate itself. Before the Holy Spirit can come to the rescue, there must be a struggle in the heart. Let no one imagine he will receive the Spirit in any other way.’ (Sermon for Pentecost Sunday volume VII:329-336 of The Sermons of Martin Luther)

Counselling and legal representation for free!

Being open to the Holy Spirit means divesting ourselves of useless and destructive patterns of thinking and acting. It means – in a certain sense – being ‘empty’ ready to be filled. We need to let go; we need to let God act in us through his Holy Spirit. If we trust in God’s Holy Spirit to guide us then we will find freedom to live more and more in the present moment, firm in the conviction that God will guide us, step by step, to that place or that decision or that response which will be right at the right time. It is not a question of receiving the whole picture or truth in one go. The Holy Spirit leads us gradually towards the complete picture (John 16:13). Not for nothing has the Holy Spirit been referred to as the ‘Paraclete’ or advocate (παράκλητος in Greek). When words and claims are fired at us we have the best of lawyers to defend us, argue for us, advise us, console us and urge us forward. Better still the service is for free! Add to that counselling.

And so often we fret and worry about how we will perform or what we will say whether in a situation of a written examination, or a very difficult conversation with someone (e.g. breaking the news of a serious illness) or an interview for a job. The list is endless. Each time, we can slow down, rest in the present moment, breath easily and let the breath of God emerge in our thoughts and actions.  As Jesus is reported as saying by Matthew:

When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time. (Matthew 10:19)

In that moment of trial, we will be given the words and means to bear witness as we should. Trust! But we must conclude with a warning: be alert and ready because we don’t  know where the Holy Spirit leads us. We only have the light of today and of this moment. Walk in that light.

(words above = 1,646)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

We are still in that long discourse of Jesus that fills chapters 13 through to 17 of the Gospel of John. The action of the Holy Spirit is key to the entire discourse.

15:26-27   A promise delivered

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

If the Holy Spirit – the mutual love at the heart of the Trinity – is not present in our gatherings then we cannot claim to be Church.

16:4b-6   Sorrow for a while

 ‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 

Sorrow including deep sorrow meets us, inevitably, at different moments in life. However, as believers in the resurrection, we live in hope and in joyful expectation not only of what is to come in the future but what is already emerging here and now ‘under our feet’ so to speak – if we could only see it and believe that too.

16:7-11   Who is right?

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

Truth can a slippery thing. Too often, we speak out of two sides of our mouths. Worse still, we act accordingly. Only the Spirit of Truth – the Holy Spirit can sort out that which is untruthful, not good and not beautiful. God abhors lies.

16:12-15   The work of the Holy Spirit

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The work of the Holy Spirit is never done. That Spirit recreates us anew moment by moment of our earthly pilgrimage. It is the Holy Spirit who will guide you and me ‘into all the truth’ – not just my version of it or your version of it or someone else’s version of it.

Prayer in support of life (week-2)

Introduction

It is two weeks away.

Where two or three are gathered in your name you are present, Lord Jesus Christ. Be present, Lord, be present now in this place and at this time.

This evening, we gather together in your name to pray for life in Ireland at this time. We remember and offer this prayer for our sisters and brothers working to save the 8^th Amendment referendum. We also remember and offer our prayers for those sisters and brothers who find themselves, in conscience, unable to support these efforts.

Come Holy Spirit and give us courage, patience, perseverance, wisdom, tact and, above all, true compassion.

Psalm

Psalm 42(43)   A prayer for light and strength

Defend me, O God, and plead my cause against a godless nation. From deceitful and cunning men rescue me, O God.
Since you, O God, are my stronghold, why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning oppressed by the foe?
O send forth your light and your truth; let these be my guide. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
And I will come to the altar of God, the God of my joy. My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within me? Hope in God; I will praise him still, my saviour and my God.

Glory be to the Father…..

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 41:10

Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Intercessions

For justice in society….

For the homeless…

For those cast aside, marginalised or judged by society….

For children facing poverty and social exclusion….

For women abandoned by society and by their partners ….

For those hurt by abortion…

For civic, church and political leaders….

For those unsure how to vote in the upcoming referendum

Our Father …..

Concluding Prayers

Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the people of this land who are called after thy holy Name; and grant that they may ever walk worthy of their Christian profession. Grant unto us all that, laying aside our divisions, we may be united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us. Help us to respond to the call of our country according to our several powers; put far from us selfish indifference to the needs of others; and give us grace to fulfil our daily duties with sober diligence. Keep us from all uncharitableness in word or deed; and enable us by patient continuance in well-doing to glorify thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (from the Book of Common Prayer).

Unity in the essentials

“…that they may be one” (John 17:11)

John 17:6-23 (Year B: 7^th Sunday of Easter 2018)

The evangelist John opens his Gospel by declaring:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.(John 1:1)

And he closes the gospel by confiding the following (John 20:31):

But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,[b] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Mid-way between the introduction of the Logos (Word) and the end (the promise of eternal life) is prayer for unity found in Chapter 17. The whole point of this chapter and what has come before and what is yet to happen – death and resurrection – is unity; unity of God in the trinity and unity of us in the family of God.  It is a call to communion with others and for God in us. We can confuse this as a call to unity under and against. Unity in an imbalanced hierarchical structure of power misses the point. Unity of some against others for the sake of conflict and domination is not desirable.

Jesus’ prayer ‘that all may be one’ can be misunderstood as a call to homogeneity and dullness. It is most definitely not a case of saying that we can have any colour car as long as it is black! To be one is the point of salvation in Christ.  The disciples of Jesus who experienced his transforming power in the months, years, decades and centuries following the events recounted in the gospels knew a unity of purpose and living that astonished the world. This, more than anything else, drew many others into the family of God.

What does it mean to be one?

Does it mean having the same ethnicity, political views, social status, theology and liturgical practices? Most certainly not!

Does it mean blind obedience within a hierarchical structure? Definitely not. God invites us to love him with ‘all our minds’ while not breaking unity in what is essential.

Unity is about a balance of respect, inclusion and sharing of common purpose and values. In matters of doctrinal belief it requires discipline on what is essential and charity in everything else. In matters of ‘church discipline’ it requires respect, tact and loyalty combined with courage, flexibility and initiative where questioning and change is required. If people stood still in the 1^st century or in the 19^th century in matters of how to articulate their beliefs and work then the reality of gospel would be greatly diminished and denied to countless numbers of people. We must work within the complex cultural and social environments of their time

‘For God so loved the world ….’ (John 3:16).

We only have to think of the question of the role of women in the Christian churches to realise (i) how much distance has been travelled in recent decades, and (ii) how much distance remains to be travelled.  The paradox facing many is that in order to maintain unity of the Christian family it is necessary to suffer disunity for a time and with some others in order to move forward. However, it is not the case that anyone can presume or take it upon themselves to innovate without a lengthy period of reflection, study, debate, consultation and deliberation. At the same time, there is an urgency of proclaiming the good news and witnessing to a world that views the messengers of this good news with some criticism and distrust. Trust needs to be rebuilt, gradually, on the basis of a genuine and sustained concern for that which is true and in the common good.

But, we need to be wary of those who claim certainty on many questions. In claiming certainty about the meaning of scripture or tradition we may risk ending up hijacking the message and basing our lives on a false premises of self-confidence. In practice, people who appear to be most certain are – if the truth be told – deeply insecure because they desperately do not want their comfort zones disrupted and opened up to critical scrutiny. Deep down they are unsure and they crave certainty in signs, miracles, proofs, cut-and-dry answers to set questions and creedal type formulae that admit of only one set of language and philosophical framework.

And lest we think that we are immune from all of this we should reflect on how our values are constantly challenged and how, perhaps, in the course of a lifetime we have had to review, modify or enlarge our understandings and views on various matters of personal, spiritual, theological,  social and political concern.

But unity comes with a price

Unity comes at a price – we have to be ready to listen to others including the wisdom of those who came before us and we have to be ready to use our own God-given reason and life-experience to ‘work things out’ in harmony with the scriptures and the broad thrust of tradition. But tradition – or if you like the lived experience of the Christian community – is not static. It evolves and is re-expressed in every era.

It may help and it should help to share this process of critical engagement with other whom we can trust in the various walks of life.

At this time, some Christians in Ireland experience the pain of disunity within and across churches on what may be considered a fundamental moral issue underpinning many or all of our human values. This concerns the right to human life in all its breadth, depth and complexity. We must hold fast in patience and love to the truth as we understand it and as scripture and Christian tradition has established it while respecting that fundamental differences arise, even within closely knit families, communities, organisations and churches, in how to approach the choice to be made by voters on the 25^th May in the Republic of Ireland. This is painful and it is part of our learning and growth in discipleship.

Jesus’ prayer for us that we might be one in the love of God-who-is-love. His Name or Word is revealed for what it is; ‘He-who-saves’ because God-who-is-love is alive and working and united with ‘He-who-saves. By choosing to live openly and courageously in this love there is every possibility that others will join us in a larger community of witnesses and believers. This is the point of chapter 17 of St John’s Gospel. Amen!

(words above = 1,062)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

The prayer of Jesus for his disciples is a long one. However, it packed with meaning, depth and relevance for you and me and all of us today. We can never tire of slowly reading this, chewing it over and letting it sink deeper and deeper as it unfolds new meaning to us. May the Holy Spirit guide us as we prepare to receive the Word!

6-8:   To know is to belong

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 

Keeping the Word is more than compliance with a check-list of do’s and don’ts.  It is about a living relationship founded on real love and real trust.

9-10:   In human Christian discipleship God is glorified

I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 

God has a special heart for those poor in spirit and those who have given themselves without reserve to God-who-is-love.

11-13:   That all may be one

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that. you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

We may be in the world but we do not need to be of it. This can mean difficult choices, difficult questions and difficult courses of action. We need the prayer of Jesus and the protection of the Father in the same name of Jesus.  The seal of the Holy Spirit upon is the presence of an inner joy that this world cannot give.

14-19   Standing up for truth in a divided and hostile world

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Because our home is not of or in this world, we must accept the transitory, provisional and passing nature of so many aspects of our lives.  We move forward, we hold fast in patience and we persevere in love because we know the protecting love of God. We are truly sent by God when we surrender to his Word. We can know something of the heavenly unity that is in the Trinity even in this passing land of shadows.

20-23:   The glory of the resurrection

 I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The outcome of following Christ is a unity that gives glory to God. How sad it is when unity is broken by all manner of things borne of pride, jealousy and fear.

Prayer for Life (Week-3)

Introduction

It is three weeks away.

Where two or three are gathered in your name you are present, Lord Jesus Christ. Be present, Lord, be present now in this place and at this time.

This evening, we gather together in your name to pray for life in Ireland at this time. We remember and offer this prayer for our sisters and brothers working to save the 8^th Amendment referendum. We also remember and offer our prayers for those sisters and brothers who find themselves, in conscience, unable to support these efforts.

Come Holy Spirit and give us courage, patience, perseverance, wisdom, tact and, above all, true compassion.

Psalm

Psalm 102(103):1-6    A song of praise and thanksgiving

How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!

My soul, give thanks to the Lord all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.
It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and compassion,
who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle's.
The Lord does deeds of justice, gives judgment for all who are oppressed.

Glory be to the Father…..

Scripture Reading

John 8:3-11

 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

Intercessions

For justice in society….

For the homeless…

For those cast aside, marginalised or judged by society….

For children facing poverty and social exclusion….

For women abandoned by society and by their partners ….

For those hurt by abortion…

For civic, church and political leaders….

For those unsure how to vote in the upcoming referendum

Our Father …..

Concluding Prayers

Lord God, Thank You for creating human life in Your image.

Thank You for our lives and the lives of those we love.

Thank You for teaching us through Scripture the value You place on life.

Help us to uphold the sanctity of life in our churches and community.

Fruitful in all seasons

“…And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (John 15:16)

John 15:9-17 (Year B: 6^th Sunday of Easter, 6^th May 2018)

Fruitfulness is the result of following Christ. If only we trusted at the outset of our lives, He would lead us in ways that we might never have imagined in our wildest dreams.  And it is never too late to say yes and trust in his love no matter what stage of life we find ourselves in.

There is an unhelpful trend and characteristic, in our culture, of relegating persons over a certain age to a state of what is referred to as ‘retirement’.  It is almost a matter of ‘what is the point’, ‘he or she is too old’, ‘time for him to move on’ etc. This mentality is not only apparent in the way people are required to stop ‘working’ at a fixed age consistent with life expectancy in Germany in the 19^th century when the late Otto Bismark introduced the modern pension! The mentality is also apparent in such diverse fields as education, health care and volunteering. Some wonder and question about the gains from investing in someone whose life expectancy is such as not to warrant an investment of time and money.  ‘Lifelong learning’ is spoken of as crossing from cradle to grave but is often confined to the ‘working life’ of someone fixed as spanning 20 to 65 or a little more. 

This is regarded as a fixed point after which it is ‘time to move on’. However, length of days, health and better opportunities for travel, education and exploration mean that our notions of ageing, retirement and winding down need radical revision.  God calls men and women at all stages of life to things that may commonly be regarded as impossible or even unwise. We need to re-think the assumptions, values and mind-sets of our time. The key to God’s call is to remain in his love through mutual love.

A narrow-based calculation of benefits net of costs over an estimated remainder of a lifetime may reinforce a prejudice towards retirement both among the retired as well as among those who make sure others retire. But, is this calculus in keeping with the way God sees matters?

Even the psalmist declares that ‘Our span is seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong.’ (Psalm 90:10). 70 to 80 years would have been exceptional 2,500 years ago but not today in much of the world (excepting Methuselah who – according to Genesis 5:27 lived to be 969 years of age – just disappointingly 31 years short of 1,000 although in deference to the author(s) of Genesis it must be admitted that the notion and term of ‘year’ might have been defined differently in ancient societies!).

Indeed, some analysts expect that babies (fortunate) to be born today can expect to live to be a hundred if they maintain a reasonable healthy life course such are the improvements in health care, nutrition and other factors.  Hopefully, bar some environmental or political calamity or a further escalation in obesity and addiction to opioids, most babies born, today, will have the opportunity for a long and very fruitful life. In keeping with fruitfulness at all stages of the lifecycle there are opportunities for all of us no matter what age or condition of life we find ourselves in. 

A person incapacitated and highly dependent may be able to offer a smile, a word of encouragement, a word of wisdom, a listening ear or a quiet prayer. Even when this is not possible due to bodily or mental infirmity the very presence of someone, now incapacitated, who evokes memories of kindness, wisdom and practical support is a blessing for others.

This Sunday’s passage from the middle of the 15^th chapter of St John’s Gospel follows on from the story of the vine and the vinedresser which we heard read last week. A single living organism involves many parts living off each other. It also involves indwelling.  The idea of indwelling and mutual inter-dwelling – the Father in the Son and the Son and the Father in us as we live in each other united in a single love is a powerful one.  It is based on a love that goes beyond mere sentiment or philosophy. It is a practical, living and never-ending concern for each other and ourselves that moves us to think, act and move as members of the one body (or the one Vine to use that parable).

We need only remember one simple and overriding truth in all our searching and struggling: ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:16). As a direct consequence, ‘whoever lives in love live in God and God in him’. Believing that God is love and acting out this love in a practical way as part of a Christian community of believers and strugglers is our passport to fruitfulness.  In this way, we discover our true calling and we are, indeed, equipped and called to be fruitful where we are and, perhaps, in other places too.

The result of all our seeking and all our yearning and all our serving is joy; not just any old joy but that fullness of joy that God alone can give for Jesus says these things to us again today, here, now that His joy may be in us and that this Joy of his in us may be complete (15:11). Joy is the fruit of our discipleship amidst many trials and tribulations; not only the fullness of joy but peace (John 16:33) and the fullness of life (John 10:10), also.

Through following in the way marked out by Jesus, the Face of God, we experience a quiet inner peace and joy.   And ‘The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever’ (Isaiah 32:17).  In that unmistakable lasting quietness and confidence will be your light, your guidance and your decision.

Joy, peace and life – these are the fruits of true discipleship. And we can experience these fruits at any time in our lives if we are open to these.  In living as disciples and active witnesses in ‘retirement’ we can be channels of joy, peace and life for others.

(words above = 1,050)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

We move from the image of the vine and the vinedresser (John 15:1-8) to one of fruitfulness rooted in relationship, obedience, freedom and joy (John 15:9-17).

9:   Staying in love

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 

Falling in love is not, perhaps, so hard. Staying in love is challenging for us human mortals. Only the love given by the Father to the Son and by the Father and the Son to us can transform our human love into something lasting, divine and even eternal.

10:   it is about love

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 

The radical essence of Christianity is love – not any type of love – but love of God the Father for God the Son, love of God the Son for God the Father, the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit for each and every one of us and the love of each of us for one another – one by one and moment by moment and breath by breath until our last breath on this earth and our breath unto eternity. That all may be one living breath.

11:   The point is joy

 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

In this sentence, chara or χαρὰ means joy. It can also denote favour or grace. Could it be that the Irish Gaelic word for friend, cara, is rooted in χαρὰ? Over to the linguists, please!

12:   Simplifying the rule book

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Religion in not complicated and Christianity is not something detached from material, this-worldly living.  It is the aspect of loving ’one another’ that generates the kingdom of God here and now.

13:   This is the test

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 

Are we ready for the challenge?

14-15:   No longer slaves but freed persons called to spread love

You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 

There is a type of religion that was founded, primarily, on fear – fear of retribution in everlasting fires or fear of being regarded negatively by others including one’s own family and community. That sort of religion makes slaves or doúlos of us.  In Jesus, God has set us free from such religion to live lives of love. This is, however, costly and involves Hard Gospel, Hard Choices and Hard Discipleship. The price of freedom demands sacrifice. The road to resurrection is via the cross.

16-17:   We have a sacred commission

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

We might think that we have found our way and chosen our situation and calling. It does not work that way necessarily. God is a God of surprises at all times and seasons.