Haunted by Christ

“…My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

John 20:19-31  (Year C: The Second Sunday of Easter, 28^th April, 2019)

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In some places this  Sunday is called ‘Low Sunday’ after the ‘High’ of last Easter Sunday. In some traditions, this Sunday may also be referred to as ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’ marking a special celebration of Jesus’ mercy.

A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

COI	RC
Acts 5:27-32	Acts 5:12-16
Psalm 118:14-29	Psalm 118:2-4,22-27
Revelation 1:4-8	Revelation 1:9-13,17-19
John 20:19-31	John 21:1-19

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SERMON NOTES (1,480 words)

The reality of living faith in today’s world is complex. We are caught up in that world whether we are regular church goers or not. Recently, a senior Irish church figure cited a book entitled ‘Haunted by Christ: Modern Writers and the Struggle for Faith’ by Richard Harries. Harries considers the work of 20 poets and writers and their struggles to believe and to express it in their lives and writings.

‘Thinking’ and ‘believing’ go together. However, since the age of enlightenment people have pushed the boundaries of thinking and human reason to a point where, in the fullness of time, and here in Europe belief in a supernatural being has been relegated to the domain of private opinion and choice.  This is a pity because ‘reason’ and ‘faith’ can and do complement each other. The act of, and will to, believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is now alive among us and within the hearts and minds of each one is central to Christian belief and practice. Without this cornerstone our faith would be in vain and we, of all people, would be most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

The evangelist, John, is about to finish his book with a bang. In the space of one half of the second last chapter we hear about the resurrection, the primary role of women in witnessing and telling of the resurrection, the struggles of doubting Thomas, the call to mercy and a ministry of forgiveness, the sending out on mission, the few words spoken by Jesus in the period after his resurrection and, finally, the statement of purpose in this gospel of John:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

‘that through believing’ we might have life in the name of Jesus. That’s it. Grace, Response through faith and eternal life in the time to come as well as here and now. Very simple! But, does any of this make sense in a 21^st century world, someone might ask? 

Among many of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances there is a marked reluctance to talk openly about matters of faith. Indeed, there appears to be a growing trend towards open and self-declared agnosticism or atheism. The code phrase used is ‘O, I am not religious’. Sometimes, the phrase ‘but I have a spirituality of my own’ is added. Far be it for me or anyone else to peer into the soul of another. The wells of knowing and experiencing are deep indeed and each of us has rarely gone deeply down under in our own souls let alone those of others (and I will not define, here, the term ‘soul’!).

Making sense of if today

We need to enter into a respectful and learning attitude towards the world that has, in many ways, moved beyond the core beliefs and practices of orthodox Christianity (taking the word orthodox in its widest application to all Christians who profess Jesus as both Saviour and as God).  We are, after all, asked to love God with all our faculties including our minds (Luke 10:27):

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.

With all our mind and not just part of it …. Tragically, some Christian folk distrust the mind as something separate and subordinate along with that other untrustworthy thing called the body. Yet, all of these faculties, which form part of the whole are to be cherished and used lovingly to bring glory to God and freedom to humanity. Instead we fall into the trap of incomplete human development. A form of this is a type of belief and practice that is born out of fear and ignorance. When confronted with a world of ideas, relationships and evidence we may retreat into the ‘certainties of our age’. Now the certainties of our age can take many forms. I will refer to only three of them that seem particularly relevant to this Sunday’s reading:

• Scientific reductionism
• Biblical literalism
• Absolute and unqualified ecclesial infallibility across the board.

Ecclesial infallibilism

Let’s get the third one of the way first.  Finding solace and refuge in religion many a ‘convert’ elevates ‘mother church’ or some leader in same to a pedestal and status that is not consistent with faith as a living, growing and personal relationship.  Put another way, ‘the church teaches’ or ‘the pope says’ are convenient ways of avoiding painful, sometimes bitter but always fruitful struggles on the part of thoughtful and grounded disciples. The hard work of thinking through, reviewing, changing, adapting but above all listening to others and to one’s heart and mind does not come easy for some of us.

Biblical literalism serves a very similar role to that of ecclesial infallibilism – it elevates some version or other of sacred scripture to a position of exact, legal and rational interpretation that admits of no living tradition, experience and depth. Everything is set in stone (sometimes literally) so that each one must follow a blueprint and believe in the exact same formulations. Now, unity of doctrine and practice on the ‘essentials’ is a good and necessary thing any time in the history of church. However, we need to go back to the sources with informed minds and open hearts. Even ‘the devil can cite scripture’ as William Shakespeare has it in The Merchant of Venice.  The sad reality, today, is that this insight of Shakespeare is very true. Of course, any serious scholar will quickly spot that the biblical literalists are selective in which passages or extracts they cite to advance their particular theological project or schema.

And, then, there are the scientific reductionists. These come in different forms and guises from the half-informed scientist or would-be-scientist as well as the people who live and move in a very incomplete world lacking in trust and imagination.  In many ways classical scientific reductionism is dead and along with it 20^th century ‘scientific socialism’ (the very term insults both socialism and science).  Thanks to science we are, perhaps, more aware than was the case in previous generations that our knowledge is limited and that there is much that we do not know or cannot know.

One characteristic binds together the ecclesial infallibilists, the biblical literalists and the scientific reductionists is fear and deep insecurity masquerading as certainty. They know they are right (and by inference others are wrong) because they have it on high authority from a book, a pronouncement or a some scientific tract – or simply themselves. However, the pretenders to certainty remain locked behind closed doors as the 10 disciples were (where was Thomas?) because they had not still met the Risen one and had not yet been fully baptised in his Holy Spirit.

A 21^st century Thomas

In a way Thomas – who was chided for lack of faith – was a very pre-modern character for us today.  He didn’t take the word of his ecclesial comrades because he wanted to ‘see the evidence’ for himself. Neither was he prepared to entrust himself to some biblical certainty in the prophets.  Ultimately, it was for Thomas a personal encounter with the living Christ – but crucially in the company, life and mutual love of others –  that made all the difference. And though we may not be able to see or touch or reason in the way our ancestors in faith did we are no less vulnerable to the challenge of faith in a world crying out for the risen life of Jesus.  Grounded in the here and anchored to the present moment we, too, can taste this risen life to such an extent that we cry out ‘My Lord and my God’. There, we will find that peace (v. 19), that joy (v. 20) and that freedom (v. 23) that stands out in this story of the resurrection.

As much as formal, organised and outward religion is in rapid decline in most modern western economies and societies there is a curious rise in minority expressions of interest and attachment. This can take many forms from fanatical adherence to cults – benign or otherwise as well as ‘back to basics’ movements where religious faith is largely reduced to certain doctrinal statements and particular ritual practices. On a more positive note we see the rise of various local or transnational fresh expressions of the Holy Spirit especially among lay people called and consecrated to serve in and to the world. Authenticity of source and communion of living and practice are the cornerstones of new expressions of Christian spirituality. Thank God for that.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Praise to our God in Jesus Christ truly risen. We are a people called in his name. Together with all peoples throughout the world we pray for:

• True freedom of conscience and expression in society…..
• Those suffering the effects of sectarianism, war and terror…
• The people of Sri Lanka at this time …
• The communities in which we live and work…may we extend a genuine and warm welcome to those who seek truth and love….
• The Christian churches … that we may hold to the true faith of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit entrusted to us…
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….
• … praying in silence….

Loving God accept gather up our prayers – those spoken and those unspoken in the depths of our hearts. In the places we live, work and communicate, may we be channels of peace and reconciliation in a tormented world.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH JOHN 20:19-31

v.19   Jesus Christ Risen among us

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews.

Fear is the overwhelming emotion as the disciples are bolted in on the evening of the Day of Resurrection. The full significance of what had happened had not fully dawned on the apostles. Were they in denial or were they waiting for a further sign? Either way, they were scared for understandable reasons.

v.20   Peace and joy

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

On seeing the Lord’s face the disciples were filled with joy.  ’This is the day that the Lord; we will rejoice and be glad in it’ (Psalm 118:24). When we greet one another at the Eucharist or in our daily lives do we mean what we say and do? Do we really mean peace and well-being to the other?

v.21   The apostles are sent

Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’

This was an important moment in the resurrection story. The disciples would not be mere spectators. At this sacred time power would be given them to announce the good news to all of humanity. We, too, are sent (apostolos). And the gifts of peace, joy and healing that we have received in the course of our lives is there for the quiet and discrete witnessing. Let us not be afraid.

v.22-23   The mission of reconciliation

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Empowered with the Holy Spirit the apostles were not only given power to announce the good news but to impart a ministry of healing and forgiveness. This retaining and releasing is entrusted to them as is indicated, also, in Matthew where Jesus specifically addressed Peter (Matthew 16:19).

In the Gospel of John, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit are very much brought together in what looks like the concluding chapter of the Gospel. The following chapter, number 21, looks like an addendum. In true Johannine tradition, the ‘Signs’ of Jesus point to outward things effecting and signally inward change. Herein lies the mysteries of Christ to use an Eastern expression or the sacraments of Christ to use a Western term. Baptism, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins and the Eucharist emerge from what is happening in the Passover of the Christ.

v.24-25   Doubting Thomas

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

The story switches gear by jumping forward to the one apostle who happened not to be present when Jesus appeared to the disciples. Perhaps he was on an errand for the company of disciples. Here, we enter a new phase in the resurrection story. Thomas stands for those who would follow the first direct witnesses. He saw and he believed. However, before seeing he was put to the test.

It is poignant that the first explicit designation of Jesus as not just Lord (Kyrios) but God (Theos) was by a doubter - Thomas.

The reference to the mark of nails and the wounds in the side of Jesus are the only explicit Gospel references indicating crucifixion by nailing and not by hanging.

v.26   Jesus repeats his message of peace

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’

Jesus appears again and again to greet his friends with a message of peace. Peace is the first and the last message of the Risen Christ who remains with us today just as he did two millennia ago.

v.27-29   Surrender in faith

Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

These words – ‘blesses are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’ (v.28) are a source of comfort to us in this age of doubt and indifference if not outright hostility.

v.30-31   The so what of this Gospel

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Scripture is the rock foundation of what we believe and say. Yet, the evangelist John reminds us that there is much that Jesus did and taught that was not written down in this book. Indeed, John concludes his gospel as follows:

 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25).

On our knees

“…When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him” (Luke 22:14)

Luke 22:14-23 (Year C: The Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday) 14^th April, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

Liturgy of the Passion (COI)

Isaiah 50:4-9

Psalm 31:9-16

Philippians 2:5-11

Luke 22:14-23 or Luke 23:1-49

The readings in the Roman Catholic Church are the same except for the psalm which is number 22(21) instead of 31.

Direct parallel gospel readings to that of Luke are found in:

Matthew 26:26-29

Mark 14:22-25

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SERMON NOTES (672 words)

Most who read this weekly blog are familiar with the idea and practice of Holy Communion regardless of how frequently we participate in it. I suspect that our ideas of Holy Communion, the Mass, the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper is shaped by our very early experiences in life. We watched other people including our parents and neighbours. We picked up – by osmosis or explicit teaching – the spoken and unspoken assumptions, mysteries, firmly held beliefs and norms of the Christian tradition into which we were introduced or in which we ended up (the two not always being synonymous).

The Eucharist is a mystery. We do well to embrace it as a mystery in the totality of daily living. To see the Eucharist as something separate from life or some-Thing that exists outside ourselves does not justice to the mystery. Over-thinking or over-analysing is likely to impede a living relationship with God and our neighbour of which the Eucharist is a very – even crucial – part. It is good to explain and to explore the mystery by means of trusting prayer and living theology. However, I suggest that we do best to approach the mystery literally on our knees (which is why I appreciate the widespread Anglican practice at the time of reception in the service of Holy Communion even if the evidence suggests that Christians in the earliest of post-apostolic times tended to stand throughout the liturgy on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).

This Sunday, Palm Sunday, opens with a special liturgy with the procession marking Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.  There follows a very long Gospel which can lead to long standing in many places! 

In this blog, I have chosen to reflect and pray about one part of that rather long Passion story from the Gospel of Saint Luke. I have chosen what is commonly referred to as ‘the institution of the Eucharist’ found in each of the synoptic gospels and, in the case of Luke, in chapter 22.

This is end time for Jesus as he eats his last supper with his friends before his impending trial, torture, death and resurrection. Running through the story of the Eucharist and the sketchy account of it in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (written before Luke was) is the theme of betrayal.

Human betrayal is present in God’s story from Adam right through to the Book of Revelation and in our own times. Many betray the God of life and love. The authority, authoritativeness and credibility of the Christian churches has been hugely undermined by many factors including their handling of betrayal by a minority of its ministers. How ironic that the last supper of Jesus with this disciples was the occasion of a huge historical betrayal on the part of Judas. This overshadows the entire story of what happened that night. It opens the gates of hell because Jesus would pass through hell on earth and beyond death in the days that would follow before opening the gates of heaven to all who would believe and submit to this rule of love.

The setting for Paul’s teaching on the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:23-27) found in chapter 11 of his letter to the Christians at Corinth is one of strife and betrayal of the principles of the gospel.  Those partaking in the sacred meal were excluding others and fighting among themselves for a share of what is available. If Christians are not squabbling about doctrine we squabble about our share of the spiritual cake. Put another way, it is a struggle of power and about who is in the right and who is in the wrong. This is anti-Gospel and therefore anti-Eucharist. Whatever about the technical validity of sacred orders and rites, the meaning and value of the Eucharist is besmirched when we behave in a thoroughly selfish and self-righteous manner.

I suggest a thorough examination of conscience, confession of sins and, if we can manage it, an approach to the Table of the Lord’s Word and Bread on our knees this coming week.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

As the Church  enters the most sacred of weeks in the year, we place before the tender mercies of God our needs and those of others. We pray for:

• Action by Governments, communities and churches to change our way of living, consuming and producing so as to leave our God-given Earth in a better condition to future generations…..
• The people of Sudan at this time …
• The communities in which we live and work…may we extend a genuine and warm welcome to those are strangers….
• The Christian churches … that we may witness to common baptism in this time of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection …
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….
• … praying in silence….

Loving God gather to yourself the scattered people called by the name of Christ. Anoint us with the oil, water and fire of your holy sacraments as we journey through this passiontide of 2019.

Extravagant love

“…The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (John 12:1)

John 12:1-8 (Year C: The Fifth Sunday in Lent 7^th April, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4-14

John 12:1-8

Direct parallel Gospel readings are as follows: Matthew 26:6-13  Mark 14:3-9 and Luke 7:36-50

(Readings in the Roman Catholic church are as above except for the Gospel: John 8:1-11. For a previous blog on this latter passage see ‘Love set you free’)

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SERMON NOTES (791 words)

Jesus was eating in a safe house in the village of Bethany right beside Jerusalem. At this point he was on the run as the authorities were seeking him. A woman called Mary took a very large consignment of perfume to the value of 300 hundred denarii – apparently the equivalent of ‘a year’s wages’ (verse 5) one denarius being a day’s wage. Some versions say, simply, ‘very costly’ or ‘a pound of costly anointment’.  Now, a year’s wages today might be around €30,000 or £25,000 a year. This, clearly, was top of the range perfume!

John never misses an opportunity to situate a story in the wider drama of Jesus’ impending death.  We are now in the final week of the liturgy of the Christian year moving towards the Passover of the Christ. Such a display of affection, trust and love in the house of Lazarus was not accidental. We may assume that the lady in question had much to be thankful for. She had met goodness, truth and beauty in the person of Jesus. Why wouldn’t she ‘waste’ (to quote Judas) a huge and precious gift? Where did she it from? Maybe it was a gift to her? Or, maybe she traded in such goods? Or, maybe she ran down her savings to buy this? It was an exercise in generosity towards a person who would display the greatest generosity a few days later by dying on the cross for Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Simon the leper and you and me and everyone else. Judas’ smoke screen about giving the money to the poor instead of wasting it as Mary had just done triggers a saying well known to Jews at that time (Deuteronomy 5:11):

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Some readers have interpreted both Jesus’ response and the fuller quotation in Deuteronomy to claim that Christians must accept that poverty and severe economic inequality will always exist and that the role of good people is to lessen its effects in local, partial and limited way through charitable donations from the surplus we have. This is not consistent with a reading that invites everyone – including Christians – to work for a different world where poverty and all the lack of dignity that goes with it are abolished and the values of the kingdom of God triumph.

Love acts more than speaks

Washing feet was a deeply symbolic (as in connecting and signalling) gesture – something to be repeated on the eve of Jesus’ passion when he gives his disciples (us) a lesson in discipleship.  In Mary’s case, it was extravagant involving the mostly costly of perfumes and ointment and her very own hair (a touching and sensuous gesture befitting of John’s gospel). A 21^st century reader might view this gesture as slightly risky and inappropriate. Matthew and Mark’s version of the story is that Mary poured the oil over Jesus’ head. Ointment bucket challenge!  Luke (7:36-50) spells it out in terms of Mary a ‘sinner’ and a well known one at that anoints Jesus with oil in front of everyone. And she was ‘weeping’. She goes one step further than Mary in John’s gospel by not only using her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus but she kissed them as well!

Whatever the context and the meaning of gestures in another cultural milieu and time we can be sure that Mary was not ready to settle for half measures. Neither should we in our in particular situation, calling and duty. Mediocrity, timidity and fear of social sanction can impede modern-day Christian witness. But, everything in its rightful place and time!

(‘And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume’ (v. 3). This might hint at high church worship in the Johannine community?!)

And so

In the way that this story is told in the gospel of Matthew (26:6-13) Jesus confounds his listeners by saying that ‘she has done a beautiful thing to me’ (Matthew 26:10) and that ‘wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her’ (Matthew 26:13).  Today, each of us ought to live in such a way that some day – eventually – we will be a good memory for others who follow in our families and in our circles of friendships and acquaintances. Actions speak louder than mere words (the gospels do not indicate that Mary said anything).  Mary ‘did what she could’ (Mark 14:8). We should do what we can as long as there is light. And we should be generous and prompt about it. Leave the rest to God.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in her. Together with all of God’s people we pray for:

• Those without adequate food, drinking water, shelter and the means of dignified living…..
• Those who bring relief and practical support and advocacy for the poor…
• The peoples of Europe at this time …
• People in our lives who bring us blessing….
• People in our lives who make our journey challenging…
• The Christian churches throughout the world especially in places of persecution and danger…
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….

… praying in silence….

Eternal God, you are perfect love. Through the help of your grace may we grow in love for one another and for you that we may find that blessed peace you have willed for us from all time. Amen.

A time to turn our lives around

‘unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’ ((Luke 4:5)

Luke 13:1-9 (Year C: The Third Sunday in Lent 24^th March, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

For this coming Sunday the appointed readings in the Church of Ireland are as follows:

Isaiah 55:1-9

Psalm 63

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9

And the readings in the Roman Catholic church are as follows:

Exodus 3:1-15

Psalm 103 (102)

And 1 Corinthians and Luke as above.

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SERMON NOTES (1,064 words)

When Jesus was confronted with stories of what happened in the massacre of the Galileans where the Roman soldiers ran amuck or ‘those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them’ he had to be honest with those listening.  Those listening including not a few listening today in parts of the world and the church will have notions of a fierce, vengeful and detached God who enforces cruel justice and punishes those who sin.  For these folk, wars, epidemics and various sufferings were and are the price of sin.  We are reminded of the question posed to Jesus in John 9:2 ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’.  But, in the gospel of Luke we are not told that Jesus assigned responsibility for this suffering to the victims who had broken God’s law. We know enough from reading all of the gospels and not least that of Luke that God, in Jesus Christ, came not to condemn, not to punish, not to afflict but to save, to heal and to restore.  However, suffering is the reality for all human beings and some much more than others.

The point is that Jesus knew how to draw from his suffering the very power that would not deliver us from suffering here and now but lead us to a place of acceptance and conquest. ‘Bearing with it’ was not the message for those who were poor, excluded and despised as a result but rather ‘woe to you rich’ (Luke 6:24) who deprive others of goods, power and respect.

In other words we are responsible in our ways, whether we like it or not, for needless suffering as a result of things we have said and done and things we failed to say and do that we should have done. Put another way, we are individually responsible for some degree of injustice and damage in our personal relationships whether at home or at work or somewhere else.  But, the story does not end there. There is ‘structural sin’ embedded in the way that societies and polities are constructed and in the way that relationships of power and dominance operate in this world.  In a way, we can be part of, and responsible for, that too. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this type of ‘structural sin’ is that we may do it in the name of God or some other cause because we have never engaged with an alternative story or possibility. We can sit in armchairs observing the world and pontificating on how others should live not really knowing anything of their sufferings or never having faced the difficult question of how one would think or feel if this or that happened to oneself or one’s family. The saying ‘don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it’ could be rephrased ‘don’t knock it unless you have been through it yourself’. Indeed.

To say all of this is not to avoid one of the key messages in this text and which is built on a separate question of ‘why do good people suffer?’, namely: if we do not turn from lies, selfishness and cruelty towards others then we, too, will experience huge suffering and destruction. For ‘unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did’ Jesus tells us (verse 5). Life is short and eternity is long as one saying goes.  In this life, we have an amazing opportunity to live by truth, goodness and beauty. The passing of years and the experience of bereavement involving one’s parents or even the next generation – our generation – brings home the reality that life is precious and to be embraced in the here and now. The question of ‘life after death’ needs to be matched with the question of ‘life before death’.  On the latter question, we can, hopefully, agree with people who do not hope beyond death. Ours is not to force our values and views on others but rather live in such a way that these same values and beliefs we say we stand by are curious, attractive, meaningful and life-giving for others – including those who have given up believing and hoping a long time ago.

In hearing this gospel we are reminded that our lives are precious, that there is no room for complacency and that time is constantly getting shorter. This is not a reason for gloom or neurotic anxiety about this sin or that sin, about this broken relationship or that broken relationship or about this omission and that omission. There are remedies for failure. These include a stubborn trusting in God’s mercy and help no matter what. They also include recourse to those means of grace that God puts in our way: a walk in the mountains, sharing a cup of tea with someone, a book, a project. Add to this times of grace spent in reflection, prayerful reading of the great poetry and stories of the Bible and confession.  Confession?  The Irish took the blame for inventing individual auricular confession to an ordained ministry but the practice has biblical roots (John 20:23 and James 5:16).  Leave it like this:

• All may
• Some should
• None have to

In the story or parable of the fig tree we are told, figuratively, that following three years of trial the vines were given another year to bear fruit or face being ‘cut down’. In three year’s time from this Sunday a few of us may not be around to hear this particular Gospel reading on the 3^rd Sunday of Lent (Year C) on 20^th March 2022.  Most of us will be around but of one thing we can be sure – if we live we will be three years closer to death.  The time for repentance or metanoia in Greek – is now. A metanoia of heart, mind, attitude and behaviour is meaningful only in the now.  That is the key message in this week’s reading from Luke. It is the now of the Gospel.

Many are the regrets of some as they enter the final third of their living years. But, one regret we will not have is that we had loved too much and that we had lovingly gave away too much whether by virtue of time, money and our very own lives. The question of human suffering is seen for what it is – a call to compassion.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Confident of God’s great mercy and infinite loving patience we pray for:

• Justice for those who cry out in poverty and oppression…..may we respond through help and action to address the causes of poverty and oppression.
• The people of Mozambique suffering the impact of a recent cyclone…may they find relief and support from the international governments
• All of the countries and governments of the 28 member states of the European Union at this time …
• The communities in which we live and work…may we live according to gospel values….
• The Christian churches … that we may proclaim gospel values by the way we live and the example we give to a world seeking truth, goodness and beauty…
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….
• … praying in silence….

Loving God gather up our prayers – those spoken and those unspoken in the depths of our hearts. In the places we live, work and communicate, may we be channels of peace, healing and reconciliation in a divided and sick society.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 13:1-9

Preliminaries

We are somewhere around the year 80 A.D. or a little later. Luke is writing for Christians mainly in Greece. Most of them are not Jews but converts to this new movement centred on the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and fast becoming a clearly different and separate movement to Judaism. Break-ups are never easy. And when we consider the traumatic events following the final destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the bloody siege at Masada rock to the south as well as the dispersal of the Jewish people from the holy land we are in exceptionally troubled times.

v.1-5   Tragic news

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

This passage opens up with a possible reference to a massacre that took place where pagan sacrifices were made and where Pilate directly provokes and punishes Galilean rebels by mixing their blood with that of the pagan sacrifice. Jesus takes two examples from contemporary society to illustrate that human tragedies do not signal an angry God punishing particular groups of people. Rather, he uses the example to make a different point: unless we turn back to God we end up harming ourselves and others. This warning remains as true today as it did two thousand years ago.

v.6-9   A personal and community warning – a parable from a barren fig tree

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”’

The key point, here, is that every day and every moment is an opportunity. Over to you.

What does it mean to be a Christian in Ireland today?

“…I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour” (John 4:38)

John 4:31-38 (Year C: St Patrick’s Day / The Second Sunday in Lent 17^th March, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

I have chosen to work, here, with the suggested readings for the Festival of St Patrick from the Church of Ireland. These are: John 4:31-38, Tobit 13:1-7, Psalm 145 and 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

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SERMON NOTES (1,580 words)

Go raibh briathra uile mo bhéil agus smaointe mo chroí taithneamhach leatsa a Thiarna, a charraig liom, is a shlánaitheoir (Sailm 19:14) 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)

These opening words sometimes said by one about to preach are taken from Psalm 19. However, in the verses just read and taken from the same Book of Common Prayer there is a small but significant difference as between the Irish and English language versions. The Irish version refers to the Lord God as a ‘carraig’ or ‘rock’. As it turns out this is closer to the original Hebrew ṣūrî which also means rock. In the English translation, the term ‘strength’ is used instead. For sure, the Lord God is both our rock and our strength; but I suggest that rock is more graphic and meaningful in this context. In the ‘Confessions’ attributed to Saint Patrick whose feast day we mark on this second Sunday of Lent the author writes:

So I am first of all a simple country person, a refugee, and unlearned. I do not know how to provide for the future. But this I know for certain, that before I was brought low, I was like a stone lying deep in the mud. Then he who is powerful came and in his mercy pulled me out, and lifted me up and placed me on the very top of the wall

Patrick, an exile and a foreigner, was raised up like a stone and placed on a rock foundation and that foundation was Christ. But where and how did he find his rock?

When Patrick, a Briton of possible Roman extraction, was roughly brought ashore by an Irish raiding party of thugs and slave dealers (rather like what happens in some parts of the world today), he was walking into a damp, strange land with pagan rituals, human sacrifice and constant driving rain (well some things never change!). This placed called Hibernia or ‘Winter land’ by the Romans was not a welcoming place for someone like Patrick. Indeed so inhospitable, cold and remote was this island that the Romans did not even bother to investigate it.

It is clear by Patrick’s own account that his stay, here, as a slave was a brutalising and cruel one. However, it did not break him. The seeds of faith had already been sown through his family upbringing. And when Patrick escaped back to his homeland some years later he became haunted by Glór na nGael – the voice of the Irish calling on him to come back and to walk among them and this time to tell the good news. Patrick answered that call – the call of the Irish – to come back and to undertake a most difficult and dangerous mission. We know that he met with stiff opposition and danger from the very start as his message and way of life directly challenged the existing order of things including the power of the Druids and the kings and chiefs in their various bailiwicks. It emerges that Patrick was betrayed and hounded by some of his own people and clergy in Britain

Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on this island over 1,500 years ago. Others would reap what he had sown as it says in today’s gospel (John 4:37). In the course of the following millennium and a half invasion after invasion would ensue as various ‘visitors’ to this island like the Celts before them set up camp, put manners on the incumbents, sometimes inter-married and other times moved on. 

For sure Ireland has had a troubled history. To an outsider, it might look like a case of two main warring tribes that cannot agree about religion, or politics or history or identity or something else. The reality is more complex. There are many shifting strands to Irish society and history.

The Ireland that I knew growing up in the 1960s and 1970s bears very limited resemblance to the Ireland of today. Social norms, religious traditions, laws, customs, ways of living and economic prosperity have changed almost beyond recognition. Add to this an Ireland that has become incredibly multi-cultural with over a hundred nationalities living in a large commuter town near me.

Irish identity is indeed complex. So is Christian identity. We should not mix up the two even if Irish language, culture and is fite fuaite or inter-woven with Christian faith.  As we know, there are many ways of following Christ but there is always the one Christ. There are many ways of approaching the throne of God’s mercy but it is for us who profess Christ always through Word made flesh.

We find ourselves together in a land that has been hallowed by a line of witnesses not afraid to take a stand for Christ. The tragedy of our history is that the different expressions of being Irish and being Christian have been distorted and defaced. At the same time, it is true to say that Irish Christianity has made a precious and proud contribution to the spread of the good news across the globe. Its contribution has been very significant at various times including what some historians called the ‘dark ages’ (and it might be suggested that they still abide in our time).

Today, in Ireland, we celebrate a huge and very welcome level of diversity in the population.  Moreover, there is a much greater acceptance and welcome as people ‘cross boundaries’ to worship in traditions and communities that were not part of their childhood experience. A striking feature of church engagement in modern Ireland is the extent to which the new Irish or those living here but coming from other continents have reinvigorated Irish church life. Specifically, I am thinking of the great contribution of Nigerian Anglicans to the Church of Ireland or Polish Roman Catholics or Irish-Africans who have embraced Pentecostal forms of worship and community on our own doorsteps.

All of this is positive and welcome. But, we need to take an honest look at ourselves. Let me illustrate the point by way of example and metaphor. One hundred and fifty years ago the Irish language went from being the main spoken language of 4 million people to being the language of a mainly elderly population of a quarter of a million people in the early 20^th century in the space of two or three generations. Is religious practice and faith a bit like this? What I mean is this: look around yourself at mass or holy communion or morning prayer this Sunday. How many families are there? How many children are there in the congregation? How many persons between the ages of 15 and 45 are there?  I know from my own experience and memory that this was not so 40 years ago in the faith community with which I have been most familiar.  Today congregations tend to be a lot smaller and certainly older. Yes, it is true that there are many exceptions to this and some excellent work is being carried out by and among young people. However, in the main, we are a bit like native Irish speakers in the early 20th century.

Will there be a revival of some sort? Nobody knows. We need to name things and talk about these matters. Ireland has fast become rather like most other European countries – nominally Christian according to the census and occasionally ‘churched’ for occasions like baptism, Holy Communion, confirmation, marriage and death – typically in that order! And even that pattern is beginning to change as various alternatives to organised religion become respectable and commonplace. Just as the Irish language died a death as a living community language in all but the most remote areas of the Western seaboard, Christian faith and practice is, I suggest, in full-scale retreat. Let’s be honest about this and let’s avoid blaming this or that trend (for example I have heard people cite the rise of Sunday sports as a factor – seriously now!).

And, yes, I do accept that Christian faith and living is much, much more than turning up at church and saying prayers. However, a life of prayer and engagement with Word and Sacrament is a vital part of being Christian.

But is our time up? Are we the last generation and children of Patrick to turn the lights off? Where do we go from here?

I suggest three points for reflection and action:

1. We need to rediscover the power of personal and community prayer just as Patrick did on the side of a mountain in county Antrim.
2. We need to return to the beauty, richness and simplicity of the Word of God in which Patrick and many who followed him were steeped.
3. We need to throw open our doors to the stranger. Who knows but it will be the Glór na nGall (the voice of the foreigner) who calls us back to Christ more than Glór na nGael.

That rock foundation of Patrick which was Christ is ours for the offering. And the following words may be on our lips as we go forth in this world and in the time that remains to us here:

…Christ with me, Christ before me,
…..Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me….

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

 Blessed be God who lives for ever, because his kingdom lasts throughout all ages (Tobit 13:1).  Together with all the whole church catholic throughout the world we pray for:

• Peace, prosperity and human rights for all people on all the island of Ireland…..
• Peace, reconciliation and understanding among all peoples throughout the world as we remember in a special way this Sunday the people of New Zealand as well as the Muslim community throughout the world.
• Peace and protection for the various Christian communities suffering violence and oppression in many parts of the world.
• The European Union and all of its 28 Member States at this time …
• The communities in which we live and work…may we extend a genuine and warm welcome to those who are strangers….May we hear the voice of the foreigner as well as the familiar
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering and rejoicing together with thanks those who have gone before us and thanking you for the labours of those who brought and maintained the Christian faith in our land….
• … praying in silence….

Almighty and merciful God, who in days of old gave to this land the blessing of your holy Church; do not withdraw your grace from us but correct what is missing and supply what is lacking that we may more and more bring forth fruit to your glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen*

  

*this final paragraph is adapted from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland, page 145.

Quoting scriptures

“…he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13)

Luke 4:1-13 (Year C: The First Sunday in Lent, 10^th March, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading in the Church of Ireland (Luke 4:1-13) the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Deuteronomy 26:1-11,  Psalm 91, and  Romans 10:8-13.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Luke may be found in Matthew 4:1-11 and in Mark 1:12-13.  In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, the readings are the same in all cases.

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SERMON NOTES (839 words)

Even the devil can quote scripture is an old saying from somewhere. Today’s reading from the gospel of Luke suggests that the Devil has a good command of the scriptures; he is well able to quote it to suit his malign purposes. And, he is most convincing and plausible. After all, who could resist a big win or an easy way out of a tough corner. The Devil offers easy answers and convincing proposals. However, the scriptures do not belong to the Devil. They belong to God who gives them to us through the writings, experiences and memories of prophets, poets, martyrs and women and men of God spanning many hundreds of years up to and including the first century when Jesus Christ walked among us in a faraway land and time.

If the Devil is so clever at quoting scripture what does scripture have to say about him and is any of this relevant to us today? Let’s start from more modern times.  Ever since the age of enlightenment, men have doubted the claims of religion. In particular, the notion of a supreme actual evil personified spirit roaming the world for the ruin of souls and stirring up rebellion and strife everywhere has been dismissed as a hangover from childhood tales or medieval mythology. The ultimate fruit of this way of looking at the world is that evil is relative to time and culture and there is no ultimate and absolute wrong. The direct implication of this is that there is no ultimate good or absolute right. You can’t have one without the other – I suggest.

All of this makes for uncomfortable reading on this first Sunday of the Western churches period of Lent. The readings emphasise struggle, temptation and divine help. However, we take it (if we take scripture seriously at all), we ought to have our heads screwed on and our feet firmly planted on the ground. What I mean is this: we do not have a complete and final answer to the problem of human evil and suffering. What we do know is that there is much evil and suffering in this world. We also know – through faith and our hearing of the Word of God – that God is the source of our hope and our longing.

It is not easy.

The problem with evil is that we tend to compartmentalise it. It belongs to another place (say Yemen) or time (say the holocaust in the mid-20^th century). We might even study and watch evil from afar by means of literature or film documentaries of what happens somewhere else or what happened a long time ago. The problem with this way of thinking about evil is that we relativise it and put it away as if we do not have a responsibility to name evil.

Take the holocaust of the Jewish people in the last century. When the civilian population of Germany was compelled to walk through the concentration camps after they were liberated by the Allies many people were shocked beyond belief and distressed beyond endurance. ‘We did not know about this’, ‘we were helpless’ or ‘I had nothing to do with this’ was often uttered. The same could be said about those infamous mother and baby homes and similar type institutions not only here in Ireland about across the globe. Not very long ago women were effectively incarcerated in institutions and blamed and shamed while society turned a blind eye. And in many cases, this was done in the name of Christ. Blasphemy. How do we classify suffering on a scale of 0 to 10? It is impossible.

Might it be just possible that just as other generations turned the other way or disclaimed knowledge or responsibility of evil we are in any way complicit and silent in the practice of evil today? Even close by?

As we consider the options for what sort of foods and drinks we might do without this Lent we might consider, also, the bigger problem of suffering and evil perpetrated by people against people very close and very widespread. We have a role to play in countering evil by prayer, self-denial and acts of compassion. This is the relevance of what Jesus did for 40 days and 40 nights before he entered into his public ministry. He had to struggle with evil in the desert and against clever, cunning and malicious lines of thinking and interrogation. He had no props. He might have even uttered the words, ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’

Lent is an opportunity for a personal journey to a deeper faith and love. However, it has a social and community dimension and we need to engage with great injustices in the world about us as well as within us. Our spiritual enemy is always looking for an opportunity and he is well able to quote the scriptures for his own ends.

Let us put our trust in the true God of love. But, let us be careful as we proceed.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Loving God we thank you for this time of preparation for Easter. Mindful of our weakness and sinfulness we place before you are needs and the needs of others. Together we pray for:

A reversal of those trends that exclude millions from a decent standard of living…..

The peoples of India and Pakistan at this time …

The communities in which we live and work…may we encourage one another in our spiritual journey….

The Christian churches … that we may repent of unnecessary division and exclusion…

Those all among us who have undertaken to deepen our prayer in a spirit of loving sacrifice and renewed service. Keep us firm in our resolutions for this time of Lent

Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….

… praying in silence….

Loving God, show us the way of life that leads to You. Direct our plans and choices day by day that we may find the true path. Correct anything that needs to be altered. Help us to see what needs to be changed and what needs to be embraced. Thank You.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 4:1-13

Preliminaries

Luke and Matthew’s account of this episode in the life of Jesus is similar. There is no direct mention of it in John while Mark’s account is very brief. The period in the desert where Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit follows the baptism of Jesus and precedes the public ministry of Jesus. We do well to reflect on the example of Jesus who devoted himself to prayer, self-denial and struggle with evil in advance of a major decision or turn in our lives.

v.1-4   The first temptation: the lust for more

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”

Never content with what we have we seek for more and different. Life is a merry go-round of sought after pleasures, projects and things and more things and different things.

v.5-8   The second temptation: the lust for group think

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God,     and serve only him.”’

The spirit of evil is abroad and is in control of much political authority for ‘it has been given over to me’ says Satan.

Worship of God is outside the realm of thinking and acting that rules this world. One of the hardest choices a follower of Jesus will make is to stand aside from the crowd (and that may include one’s own church or faith community). To think for oneself and to take responsibility for the Word that has been planted in us is a most difficult task and we cannot do it alone.

v.9-13   The third temptation: the presumption of truth and power

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’  Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

We must acknowledge that the Devil does not give up!  ‘he departed from him until an opportune time’. That time would come in the a garden on the outskirts of Jerusalem one Thursday night in spring.