Pentecost - Wind and Fire

"And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”. Acts 2 2-4

Pentecost is one of my favourite feasts.  I think the reason for this is because the Holy Spirit brings to us hope, joy and peace. For me, Pentecost reminds us we are not left as orphans but that God dwells within us and the world and as St Basil tells us “he is the one who creates intimacy with God”

Some time ago I heard a story about a priest in a large church in Florida who was well known for his flair in delivering dramatic sermons. A couple of years ago on Pentecost Sunday he decided that it would be a really good idea to dramatise the Holy Spirit coming like a wind in a particularly spectacular way. He got an engine out of one of the boats used in the Everglades – which has a big aeroplane propeller attached to the engine. He asked the Churchwarden to help him take it up into the loft high above the church and try it out the Saturday evening before. He told the Churchwarden that when the words “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house” to flick the switch and start up the engine. So he read the passage and at the appropriate moment the Church warden switched on the engine and it worked like a dream. As the priest carried on reading the powerful wind could be felt across the church. All was set for the Sunday morning. The usual congregation gathered, all in their Sunday best and finery. The choir stood resplendent in their robes, the Organist was poised attentively on the organ stool. The reader got into the pulpit and began the reading and as the words “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house” were read, the Priest nodded and the engine fired. The sudden gust of the powerful wind sent sheet music, service sheets and bulletins flying out over the congregation. Hairdos went everywhere and most embarrassingly, a toupee flew toward the altar like a fury missile. The church was in an uproar and when the engine was stopped everything was a total mess. The priest hadn’t thought about the consequences of using such a powerful engine when the church was full.

That unpredictability is just the way it is with the Holy Spirit. It is the part of God that refuses to be contained in the little boxes we create. The wind of the spirit means that God just won’t stay put. We don’t worship a God who is locked into scripture but a God whose love know no bounds. And as we see in our readings, where the Spirit blows we see change and transformation.

So given the chaos the aeroplane propeller caused, I choose to avoid the use of props  today and thought that I would like to take a few moments to reflect upon the Holy Spirit.

Much of the language used to describe Pentecost in Acts uses the same signs which are used elsewhere in the Bible such as during the giving of the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai. The Old Testament shows us that this same Holy Spirit or breath of God was at work long before Pentecost. The Spirit that moved over the face of the waters in creation and worked to bring all things to fruition, the spirit that puts flesh on the bones in the Valley of dry bones in Ezekiel,   is also the Spirit that guides the church into all truth and intercedes for us. It is the Spirit that binds us together in love, binds the creation together in hope, and is in perfect unity in the third person of the Trinity. The wind is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s presence as it gives us a useful visual picture of how the Spirit functions. The wind is the embodiment of a sweeping force that blows where ever it wills.

On the other hand the image of breath and breathing and the gentle breeze serve to express the goodness, peacefulness and calm of the Spirit of God. I particularly like the idea of the breath of God touching us, as it the thing which is the most inward and intimate, most vital and personal to a human being. It, for me, reinforces the divine indwelling in each one of us. That God knows us so well he is intrinsic to our very being. He is in all and through all.

We also hear today in our reading of the tongues of fire resting upon the heads of each of the apostles. Fire gives light just as the Pillar of fire lead the people in Exodus, fire warms and fire purifies. This purification cleanses through and through, as a refiners fire in a crucible when smelting metal. Christ said he had come to set the world on fire, a fire lit in the hearts of all people, flaming into energy and hope. A fire which gives strength to us to face up to the pressures of life. When it came down upon the apostles it enabled them to perform mighty works. This encounter was to change them forever, giving them new abilities and moved them to preach with wisdom and zeal.

The Bible reveals to us a spirit of strength and of power and it is this power that keeps his Church alive today. We do not live by our own strength but by the strength of the Spirit who empowers us, his people, to preach the good news and lead us to faith. This is the same spirit that empowered the Prophets, Apostles and martyrs down the centuries. Because of the Holy Spirit we are  never alone, never bereft, never orphaned,  for God is with us always - changing lives, healing, helping, giving us hope and purpose. The Holy Spirit’s work is transformation, for he brings God into our human lives. Pentecost teaches us that God as Holy Spirit can come to us, his people, in a direct and powerful way to support and empower us and enable God’s mission. Also what is important to remember is that the spirit came to the Apostles as a community. He did not come to give strength, light and courage simply to each apostle separately but he came to them as an apostolic body. In the same way the spirit enters us not solely for our personal benefit, but also to unite us so that we become one spirit in the body of Christ. Each individual is given special gifts from the spirit and as St Paul reminds us, these gifts are to be shared with our brothers and sisters. And that can mean being used by God’s Spirit for big miraculous things and smaller insignificant things.

But if we are filled with the Spirit of an all powerful God, perhaps we should not be surprised if He doesn’t want to do incredible things through us. We should not limit what God plans for us or how he might want to speak to others through us.

And as I said earlier, the Holy Spirit is the part of God that refuses to be contained in the boxes we create. The wind of the spirit means that God just won’t stay put. It is not about resisting, it is about allowing the wind of the spirit’s presence to blow through our lives to enable us to be empowered to radically transform our lives and the lives of those around us. To show signs of His power and glory here on earth.

If we think about the trees that grow around us. When there is s strong or blustery wind the trees bend and sway. If they try to resist the wind, like the mighty cedars of Lebanon, they break. As the wind blows the green leaves stream out lightly in the wind and suffer no damage as the wind dances through them.  So it is with us.  We individually need to make it possible for each one of us to experience a Pentecost and this is only achievable if we don’t resist the Spirit of God. By being open to the Spirit , we reflect God’s love. A second Century Christian text describes this opening to the spirit as the human soul being like an Aeolian Harp that sounds as the wind passes through it and the Holy Spirit is the wind that strums on the strings of the soul to draw from it the sound of sweet harmony. What a beautiful way of describing our relationship with the Holy Spirit!

 It is about recognising that there is a really deep well inside of us where the Spirit dwells, yet often stones and grit block the well and God is buried beneath. It is the stones and grit which keeps us from Christ. And yet there is a way of removing the stones to allow the well spring of God to surface and that is through prayer. By consistently and persistently asking God to send the Holy Spirit upon us and his church and importantly having an expectation that God will actually answer. We need expectant faith and a faith full of expectancy.  And when we call upon the Holy Spirit to come and fill our hearts we should be aware that we cannot add a condition:  That we should be left the way we were before.

We see from our readings today, that where the Spirit touches, the spirit changes. It is up to us as we invoke the Spirit, to open our hearts and to give the Spirit control of our lives and our church.  I have spoken to many people who tell me that where a church has regularly prayed for the Holy Spirit to move in their church,  great things have happened. Let us be a Pentecostal people. A people who are open to the spirit and who call upon him to invigorate our lives, our church and our world.  And I challenge all of us today, me included, to frequently ask the Holy Spirit to blow in our lives and in our church so that we might use the gifts he has given us for the good of the kingdom. And may our prayer over the coming weeks be:

Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your people and kindle in us the fire of your love.

    

God's love for EVERYONE

John 3: 1 – 17

A few days ago I was driving back from a meeting and was listening to radio 4. The story I listened to was so captivating that I stayed in my car even though I reached my destination just so I could here all of it.  It was the story of what links the people of Wales, with one of the worst atrocities of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s.

Today we hear frequently, America leading the international community for in the fight for democracy and freedom but in the sixties it was a very different story. Racial Segregation was legal, where African Americans and Whites were required to eat separately, use separate public toilets, sit on separate park benches, travel in race specific rail carriages and even attend separate theatres and schools.

This period saw terrible racially motivated attacks and on 15^th September, 1963, members of the racist Klu Klux Klan movement blew up the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama. It was targeted as it had been used as a meeting place for the Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King.

 The bomb, apparently planted under the church steps the night before, detonated at 10:19 a.m. as the children were assembling for closing prayers following Sunday school classes. The four girls Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carol Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). were in the church basement when the blast occurred and their bodies were found underneath the rubble. Some 400 people, including 80 children, were at the church at the time, and many were injured by flying glass as the blast blew out the building's windows. The murder of children marked another low in the violent resistance to civil rights.

News of the bombing was broadcast worldwide. Listening to the news report on the radio was the Welsh sculptor John Petts. He was so upset he wanted to do something to help. He contacted a local newspaper and a campaign was launched to raise money to help rebuild the devastated Church. No one was allowed to give more than half a crown - to ensure that no rich benefactor could take credit for the money raised. There were reports of children, black and white, queuing up in Cardiff to donate their pocket money.

Tens of thousands of people contributed to the fund. With the money that was raised, Petts made a new stained glass window for the Church. Grand in scale, it depicted a black man, arms out stretched, reminiscent of the crucifixion. Petts drew on his experiences as a medic in the second world war to create his image of the 'damaged male body'. He was also inspired by the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, which had happened only a few years before. The window showing a black man suffering on the cross has  the hands spread reaching upwards. The right hands palm pushing outward to push out hatred and injustice The Left hand palm facing upward – open for forgiveness and love.

The figure is meant to represent any one of us under assault. At the time a black Christ would have been considered almost  blasphemous.  It spoke volumes to the Black community.  The window isn’t saying that Christ’s was an African American.  The window powerfully illustrates that Christ identifies with the African American community. The window reminds those who look at it that Christ is crucified again and again when people persecute someone who doesn’t look like then.

Kathleen Bunton, a member of the church said at the time that she was surprised that the people of Wales cared about blacks because what she had encountered as a black woman in Alabama, was as if nobody cared. She knew for certain that God loves us all and cares for each one of us but she found it very moving to think that people could respond so generously.

The window is located in the sanctuary, this church has become one of the most famous pieces of art to come out of the darkness of the civil rights period. At its foot a message; 'Given by The People of Wales'. At the bottom of the window beneath the crucified figure is a simple statement “You do it to me”

That act of love by the people of Wales, when hated and prejudice was at its peak in America, brought the love and light of Christ into a place of darkness and despair.

In our gospel today we hear one of the most well known quote from the bible:

“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”

And that is really what struck me about the gospel today and the tragedy in Alabama. That God so loved the world, the whole of humanity, that he gave his only Son so that Everyone – Everyone may have eternal life. This is the highest expression of love of which we can conceive. Jesus being lifted up on the cross was the ultimate act of love for rich, poor, male, female, black or white, young or old. All belong to God and Jesus love is inclusive. The Cross is not simply about individuals; it is something that embraces the human race. 

God’s love is a persistent theme throughout the Old and New testament. On almost every page of scripture we see divine goodness, tender mercy, loving kindness, patience and grace. God’s love is beyond all reasoning. That despite being flawed and imperfect we are all loved unconditionally and that love is for all. As the Civil rights activist Martin Luther King reminds us “Every one is somebody because he or she is a child of god”

The cross is the revelation of God’s love which surpasses all understanding. The gospel message is a message of a world- transforming love which upholds the weak, the poor, the outcast.  When we talk of God’s kingdom on earth we are talking of establishing a kingdom which is based on love. A place where we can accept each other unconditionally. The love of God makes itself known in the acceptance of human beings by each other in the dismantling of prejudices and social barriers in both the sharing of sadness and joy. But this love includes the demand for justice, a passionate commitment for justice for everyone. Love becomes the answer for justice and freedom throughout the world.

As Christians, God wants us to be concerned and invested in the world around us. The heart of the Gospel message moves us to have compassion for the hungry, weak and oppressed and concern for the sick and suffering. At whatever level, be it on a local scale, where perhaps we might support our neighbour, to a global scale where we might respond to the needs of others in far off lands.

Each Lent we are invited to examine our conscience. God sees us as we are but do we see ourselves as we are? As broken people, we often tuck away our sins and failings in a place where we don’t have to see them for what they are. Sometimes we don't see how our little sins become habit and affect those around us. Taking a closer look at that place, will hopefully help us to see what separates us from God. And as we take that close look let us remind ourselves that as instruments of Christ’s love, we can make a difference in our world. Just as the people of Wales individually and collectively responded in love to the terrible tragedy in Alabama, so we can respond to the call to live lives where the light of Christ’s love shines out in the darkness. I would like to end by reading a piece written by St Teresa of Avila. This reminds us so powerfully of our calling as Christians and that we who are to be instruments of Christ’s love.

Christ has no body now on earth but ours,

No hands but ours ,  no feet but ours,

Ours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion to the world

Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing  good

Ours are the hands, with which he is now to bless

 Amen

Meekness and Majesty - a reflection for Maundy Thursday Morning Prayer

For me one of the most striking things which crops up again and again in the readings of Maundy Thursday is Jesus humility. Our gospel reading today takes us to the trial of Jesus and what is really striking about this reading is the quietness of Jesus. He is a man of few words. In all of this, there is no protest. He knew his fate and yet Jesus stands as the accused: measured, dignified, humble and meek.

The journey of Maundy Thursday reveals to us a man who loved the most, yet served the most. The servant king shows us his humble heart, where humility and service are constituent parts of love.

Yet our world is a place that tells us that we will find our soul’s satisfaction in being in charge. The world is a place where there are huge pressures to always be in control, a world where connections matter – often the case of not what you know but who you know, a world where the measure of success is being at the top of your game. Yet often those who manage to get to where they want to be, often find it is not quite as satisfying as they imagined. The truth is that the deepest satisfaction is to be found in gentleness and in humility, The only reputation we should be worried about loosing is the reputation for being Christ like.

The virtue of humility is somewhat of a rarity today. And when we come across it, it stops us in our tracks. Humility is where real strength lies. As St Paul reminds us “my strength is made perfect in weakness”.

Some one told me a story the other week about a senior Churchman who spoke about the day he was ordained deacon. He spent it, obviously, in all his finery, set apart for his new ministry, the focus of attention, vested with new power and influence. He enjoyed the splendour and the lavishness of it all, and the grandeur of his new position. At the end of the day, after the ‘do' following his welcome service, he found himself alone in the church hall, stacking brown plastic chairs and felt indignant. ‘I shouldn't be doing this, I wasn't ordained to stack plastic chairs'. Then he suddenly said to himself, ‘no, actually, this is precisely what you were ordained to do. To be a humble servant.

Humility was brought even more to the forefront of my mind in a recent book I read about the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and whilst reading it I became acutely aware of how she changed the criteria of the world without words but through imitating Christ. Her life was a lesson in love. As she personally tended the sick and the dying in Calcutta's slums, she helped people there and beyond see the material and spiritual poverty that confronts modern society. She taught all through humility and simplicity. As small and soft-spoken as she was, her reach was large and her message heard around the world. She saw Jesus in everyone. She had a profound realization that anyone she was with was first of all a Child of God and intrinsically worthy of respect.

In the silence of contemplation, Mother Teresa of Calcutta could hear the cry of Christ on the cross, 'I thirst'. This cry gathered in the depths of her heart, forcing her journey on the streets of Calcutta and of all the margins of the world, to find Jesus among the poor, among the abandoned, the dying, with generous dedication. She served all human needs with dignity and respect : she made those destroyed by life feel the tenderness of God the Father. This remarkable woman is a model to us of both humility and service. When she died she left no possessions.  It was not her words that spoke to the wider world but her silent acts of love.  Her understanding of being a disciple of Jesus was in seeking holiness of life in the ordinary, in the sick and the suffering, surrendering in humility to God.

So as we encounter Jesus standing before Pilate, in  meekness and majesty, he teaches us not by word in this passage, but by example. As we walk the journey with Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb, I pray that nothing may distract us from kneeling before Christ and abandoning ourselves to him, so that we might follow him, immersed in the light of humility and love.

Do Not Worry

Do Not Worry!!

Gen 1 1-2:3

Rom 8 18 -25

Matthew 6 25 – end

Let me share with you a short story about a mechanic who worked out of his home from a garage at the back. The mechanic had a dog named Mace. The mechanic always wanted to buy the latest gadget or fastest sports car. He worked long hours to fund his obsession and he worried constantly about the debt he was getting into. As his worry increased the more absent minded he became and he was notorious for loosing his tools. Sometimes he would miss deadlines and as a result have to give significant discounts to his customers and loose money which would fund his gadget habit.  The more he seemed to worry, the more he mislaid things.

His, dog Mace had a bad habit of eating all the grass on his lawn, so the mechanic had to keep Mace inside. The grass eventually became overgrown. One day the mechanic was working on a car which had to be ready that day and unfortunately he dropped his wrench, losing it in the tall grass. He couldn't find it for the life of him, he looked everywhere. Instead getting into a flap and worrying he decided, for once, to put it in God’s hands and pray that the wrench would turn up. That night, Mace escaped from the house and ate all the grass in the back garden. The next morning the mechanic went outside and saw his wrench glinting in the sunlight. Realizing what had happened he looked toward the heavens and proclaimed, "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me!"

Worry is something that most of us have and do experience. I hear myself saying to my husband “I wish you would stop worrying about things” on a regular basis and he often points out that I am quite annoying because I never really seem to worry about anything. I admit some years ago when I worked for a long time in a very stressful job this wasn’t the case. I was often stressed and preoccupied with all the things that I needed to do and often with not enough hours in the day to do them.

 In the complex society in which we live we see people worrying about being normal, whatever that is. I have an acquaintance who recently decided her figure could be improve and choose to undergo very expensive cosmetic surgery and suffered weeks of pain afterwards. Ironically, once she had recovered, no one noticed she had even had it done. We see people becoming preoccupied with owning the latest flat screen tv, the latest mobile phone, the latest fashion item. Often getting themselves into debt and buying things they cannot necessarily afford. Loosing all perspective and seeing the most unimportant things in life as critical to survival. Jesus reminds in the passage we read, about the futility of worry. It doesn’t add one hour to the span of our life. It achieves nothing. As a famous quotation says “Worry is a futile thing, it's somewhat like a rocking chair, although is keeps you occupied, it doesn't get you anywhere”

However, sometimes there are times in our life when you are pulled up by your boot straps and something happens where you can’t help but worry.

Last Summer I had a slight twinge in my side which I had ignored for about 12 months, foolishly.  On mentioning it to the Dr she suggested I go to the hospital and get checked out, which I did. Convinced it was all in my imagination I got a huge shock when the consultant told me that I had to come into hospital as soon as possible to have a mass removed which was the size of a small melon. The problem was she then said that it was possible that this could be cancer and she would take a test and let me know the result in a week. My immediate response to this was – “ I can’t have cancer, I am going to be a priest!. But you can imagine that the following week felt very long indeed. Waiting to hear whether I had cancer or not.  I confess that at first my immediate response was to worry, but resolved that there was nothing I could do but place the situation in God’s hands. I am pleased to say that the mass proved to be benign. In hindsight, I do believe I was sent this trial to really help me understand what people go through when faced with such things and I am sure I will be a better priest for it.  

Jesus, having shared our humanity, knows our fears and anxieties. In some circumstances it is perfectly natural to worry when we have real concerns for someone’s health or are facing a difficulty.  As we heard in the story of the mechanic and the dog Mace, although amusing, it tells us the importance of handing our worries and concerns over to God through prayer. It is through a relationship with God that God works in and through our lives.  Each day has troubles of its own and worry can be defeated when we live one day at a time and let God hold everything.  This demands trust and trusting can be quite a challenge. It is a bit like the team building game of trust, where someone stands on dry stone wall and then falls backwards expecting a group of colleagues to catch them in their arms. If you have ever had to do this is quite scary.  Our natural instinct is to protect ourselves and look after our own safety. Falling backwards and trusting someone else is difficult. But this is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do. And just as the group ensures that they are there to catch you as you fall off the wall, so Jesus is there with open arms on the cross to save.

It is important however, when reading this gospel passage to recognize that Jesus wasn’t asking us to be nonchalant and expect things to be handed to us on a plate. Nor did he expect us to live a life of austerity. Jesus was instructing us that when we desire more and more and become preoccupied with material things, they lead us away from God. Jesus bids us to strive for the Kingdom of God. If we live a life which is grounded in God, where we are not distracted by the latest “must haves.” If we  rest content in the life God gave us and appreciate and cherish the beauty of creation around us, then it is only then that we experience the freedom in Christ.  A life in Jesus gives us freedom to live for today and inhabit the present. In the gospel passage Jesus communicates to us just how much we are valued and loved by God. Jesus tells us how much God values the birds of the air and the grass in the field yet he values us, his children even more. Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis illustrates this clearly.  We can be sure in the knowledge that God loves us all with an everlasting love. 

In our reading from St Paul to the Romans, Paul brings us back to the troubled state of this present world. He draws a great picture. He sees all nature and human kind waiting for the glory that shall be.  Paul goes on to think about human longing. In the experience of the holy spirit, men and women had a foretaste of the glory that shall be. We are saved by hope. The hope Christ holds for us. Paul believed that the human situation is not hopeless. Paul saw human sin and the state of the world but he also saw Christ’s redeeming power and the end of it all, for him, was hope. Because of that, Paul’s life was not a state of permanent despair.  Life for Paul was an eager anticipation of liberation, a renewal and a recreation brought about by the glory and the power of God. In verse 19 he uses a wonderful Greek word for eager longing or expectation, it is apokaradokia.  A great word which describes someone who scans the horizon, head thrust forward, eagerly searching for the first signs of the dawn breaking:  the day break of glory. To Paul life was not a weary defeated waiting, it was a vivid expectation.  As Christians, part of our human situation is to battle with our own human nature often finding ourselves in a world which turns its back on God. However, as Christians we do not live only in the world but we also live in Christ. By living in Christ we look beyond the world to God.  And as we look beyond our human weaknesses and sin we see the power of God’s mercy and love. Therefore as God’s people we need never despair or worry. We have a sure and certain hope – life in Christ. 

So as we go about our daily lives, let’s pause when worry begins to creep in and hand our worries and concerns over to God .  Let’s respond to the challenge Jesus gives us  and put God first and he will respond and meet all our needs.

 I would like to end with a wonderful passage which was written by Julian of Norwich, mystic and writer of the 14^th Century. Julian reminds us:

“When the soul is tempest tossed, troubled and cut off by worries, then it is time to pray, so as to make the soul willing and responsive towards God. But there is no kind of prayer that can make God more responsive to the soul, for God is always constant in love. And when, by his special grace, we behold him clearly, knowing no other need, then we follow him and he draws us to himself by love”.

Salt of the Earth

If any of you have ever visited Kendal in Cumbria you may have been into Holy Trinity Church next to the river. When you enter this Parish church you immediately struck by the size. The centre aisle is over 800 years old and there are a further 4 aisles which were added over the centuries. The church is amazingly only three feet narrower in width than York Minster. You leave the building with a sense of amazement. In its heyday over 1200 people worshipped every Sunday who mostly worked in the wool trade. Today the congregation averages about 40. I recently attended a mid week eucharist at Durham Cathedral where there were 5 others in the congregation. Yet at the recent Lumiere or light festival in Durham City, over 20,000 tourists walked through the Cathedral doors in one day. Let’s hope they God during their visit.  It is hard to imagine what those who built these magnificent buildings would say about dwindling numbers. The very best craftsmen toiled tirelessly to build these buildings and as they did so would have thought about the countless people who would encounter God there.  As each stone was laid it was more than just about building a building but it was about how people would be impacted and changed in the years to come.  These magnificent feats of architecture were built to inspire and give us a glimpse of God’s majesty but most importantly to attract people to God not the building. Sometimes we think of the church as the building but in truth the church is its people. The word church comes from the Greek “Ecclesia” which means “an assembly” that is you and me.

For us to be effective as a church we need to be the church not doing church and there is a huge difference. Throughout the generations and it is as true today, that the church can become centred around its own domesticity and that we forget sometimes the majesty of our calling. - to be agents of universal transformation. The gospel Jesus leaves us is not about gathering in places that we feel safe in but in transforming people and communities into the kingdom of glory. We are the salt of the earth and just as the salt was never meant to remain inside the salt cellar, but was designed to season all it touches, so we, the church, were not created to remain insular and isolated from the world. When we as a church or assembly of God’s people, retreat from the world, the church is seen as inaccessible, remote and out of touch. Too often we think that growing the Kingdom is someone else’s job. Someone who has those sorts of gifts, someone who is more outgoing or gregarious than you and me. But Jesus didn’t say “come follow me and I will make the outgoing and the confident and the brave fishers of me”. He said “I will make you” – You and me fishers of men. And note he said “make” because sustained by his spirit we are all capable of great things.   Jesus didn’t chose great orators, celebrities or politicians to grow his kingdom, he chose fishermen and tax collectors -  people like you and me. Ordinary people who did extra ordinary things. 

We could be accused of being naive if we were to believe that without much effort on our part people are going to return to church in droves. Yes we will have amazing events like Back to Church Sunday where we double our congregation and showed that when we work together as a team we can inspire people to come to church. And yes, some of those who came have returned. But it is not just about a once a year exercise in discipleship. For transformation to happen we need Christians being Christians in a lost and broken world.  We are the salt of the earth, a light for the world and yet we are tentative, sometimes we can even be apologetic for our faith. The generation we live in doesn’t want to hear about God’s message -  what they want it to see that it works then they will believe that its true.  They won’t be convinced that we have a message worth hearing if all we do it pop to church every Sunday and then don’t live out the gospel for the rest of the week. For this to happen it is we who must bear witness. We don’t need to be great preachers, we don’t need to be high profile evangelists. We need to be witnesses not to do witnessing. God has called each one of us to bring light to the earth and as Christians if we truly believe in the message of the gospel then surely we must feel compelled to let others know about the saving love of Christ. Who are we to keep this wonderful message to ourselves, as Christ called each one of us to minister to the world using the gifts he has given us for the sake of growing the kingdom.

So how do we do this?. How can we, ordinary people grow God’s kingdom?. Jesus said you are the light of the world.   As bringers of God’s light we need to decide whether we are a flickering candle, a 100 watt bulb or a huge football stadium spot light.  And as we shine out as living examples of Christ’s message there is something we need to nurture. And that is Relationship. Unless we build relationships with our local community and the people within it they will not have the courage to cross the threshold of the church door.

For many years I worked as an Operations Director of a larger regional charity who specialised in providing educational support to marginalised people. People often on the fringes of society. We would work with people who were released from prison who had raped or murdered, people who were drug abusers, those whom people considered unemployable, the damaged, the broken. What was common to the majority who came through our doors was that they had no self worth. Most of them we really victims themselves having  been physically, mentally or sexually abused. Most who were drug users were using drugs to escape not only from the world in which they lived but to escape from themselves. Most didn’t like themselves and certainly didn’t love themselves. One particular girl stands out from my time there. Stella came to us when she was 17. She had been regularly excluded from school and we had been told that she was impossible to deal with. She was withdrawn and insular. She wouldn’t engage in conversation and it was obvious that she had some form of drug habit. After weeks of working with her she started to come out of her shell. We discovered that she had been persistently physically and sexually abused by her step father which had prompted her to eventually leave the family home at 16 to live at a friend’s house. After about 3 months she finally told us everything about her tortured life and we discovered that she had a long standing ambition and that was to sing and record a CD. After much difficulty in trying to scrape the funding together,  we arranged for her to go to a recording study and cut a CD of a song that she had written herself. She had a remarkable voice and when she returned with the CD and played it to us there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. More importantly her gratitude was immeasurable and she told us that this was the first time that someone had ever believed in her.  With renewed confidence she went on to get a job and achieved a qualification.

This for me is a perfect example of being Christian and not just doing. Working with someone who was lost and making them whole again.  Seeking out those who are excluded from society and loving them to reach their potential. Jesus did the very same aligning himself to the excluded of society. In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us directly “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. It is easy to love those who love us but how much more difficult is it to love those who are seen as outcasts in society. It is at this point when our Christian calling really comes into play.

Therefore tonight I challenge all of us at the beginning of this New Year. How can we as individuals and a church live up to our calling?. There are many opportunities in our daily life to engage with people who ordinarily would not come to church. So why not build a relationship. As we found with Stella - relationship takes time but persistence pays off. Our local community is full of people who are lonely, sick, dying, there are those finding it hard to make ends meet, those who feel abandoned or lost. This New Year time why not take the time to visit or talk to someone you know needs a kind word or support, carry out a kind gesture or pray for someone whom you would ordinarily never think of praying for. Reach out to some one you have not spoken to for years.  Real compassion leads us to action.

As a church we have great challenges ahead but one thing is for certain that we cannot ignore our responsibilities.

We cannot do everything but we can do something.

 It is up to us to grow the kingdom.

Look for those Kairos moments

Matthew 11:2-11

Throughout the season of Advent there are many words and phases that we associate with the season. Advent is a time for watchful waiting. A time for hope and anticipation, a time for searching. A time when we look forward to the light of the Christ, a chance for new beginnings. A time of expectation.

In a very short time we will reach our destination – the birth of a baby, the gift of a messiah to the earth. As the excitement towards this time builds we remember how much there is to be done. The buying of presents, making sure the decorations are up, cards still to send, planning our Christmas lunch. All of this underlines that this is a season of rejoicing, a time for joy, happiness and peace.

Yet for many this time of the year isn’t necessarily a happy one. Often at this time there are people who are painfully reminded of those whom they have lost,  times of loneliness, times when the darkness fills their days. But Advent is a time when can discover for ourselves and for others the image of hope.

Our reading from Isaiah today gives us that sense of hope. We hear of exiles returning and the desert has been transformed where flowers blossom and the burning sand is quenched by streams of water. A place where the eyes of the blind are opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. It gives us a glimpse of Gods promise, the Advent hope. We watch and we wait in expectation – we look for Christ - in the most unexpected way –he arrives in a humble stable in Bethlehem.

As we look to the Gospel today we are given a real sense of hope. When Jesus finally comes, John the Baptist, who has been watching and waiting for the coming of the chosen one, just wasn’t sure whether Jesus was the one. As he lay in prison, he sent word by his disciples and asked “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” On reading these words it struck me how similar we are to John the Baptist, in this respect. We go about our lives and see suffering, we see violence and hatred, we see our planet’s resources depleted, our lives get tough and we find it difficult. In these times when we too will ask “If you are the Lord, the one who is to come, why this?” But we need to remember that God never promised to offer all the answers, he never promised to make life easy. He never said life would be without difficulties and challenges. Faith demands us to trust in God.   He simply gives himself to us. So Jesus doesn’t simply respond to John’s question by saying, yes I am he.

Jesus tells Johns disciples - Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus by his words simply says to John, look at the evidence, decide for yourself if you think that I am the one. This moment in time is one of those meteoric points in history. This is Kairos moment.

Kairos is a Greek word. The Greeks had two words for time – Kairos  is the appointed time where God meets you for revealing his purpose and will. Chronos is Chronological time, the worlds time, This indeed was a Kairos moment. A moment when history and humanity was changed forever.

The Advent and Christmas season for all of us has become a very stressful time. The pressures of consumerism grow each year. We have to be ready, we have to plan. Each week in the weekend newspapers we are given moment by moment plans on how to prepare the perfect Christmas lunch. Our world is a place where everything has to be now. We see every Saturday evening people competing in programmes such as the X factor, seeking fame and wanting celebrity now. Seeking transformation in their lives – the trappings of celebrity.  We have fast cars, people never having time to stop, always in communication with mobile phones and the internet. We live in what people call, a rat race, have instant coffee, microwaves, ready meals, overnight delivery, express mail. We eat fast food and then want fast diet programmes.

There is even a church in Florida that advertises 22 minute services. Go there and they promise that in 22 minutes it will all be over, and you’ll be out in an instant!. A world where many rarely experience true silence.  A world where people rarely just pause.

As Christians, Advent gives us a perfect opportunity to pause.

Advent gives us the ability to stop chronological time and let God have his time. A time for Kairos. A time for God’s time.

Having worked in Education for many years I have always had to work to targets and deadlines. We had detailed plans of what we wanted to achieve and when and how we would achieve them. Working in this sort of environment has quite an effect upon you in that this habit of planning and control can spill over into every other aspect of your life. I would plan everything with military precision. Holidays, the goals I wanted to achieve, the things I wanted to do. And then God goes and gets in the way. Suddenly three years ago God took control, no longer were my plans important. Now was the time to relinquish control, trust in God and let him work in my life. And lo and behold the most amazing thing happened – I was selected for ordained ministry. It just shows how God is always full of surprises. This for me was my kairos moment.

Making space for God is very important and Advent provides us with the perfect opportunity to pause, to put our foot well and truly on the brake and reflect quietly in anticipation of our saviour’s birth.

Devil's Mustard Mill

During the Summer I visited Kirby Stephen in Cumbria for a weekend in my touring caravan. Early one morning I took my dog for a walk before most people were up.  I headed for a place called the Devil’s mustard mill . In the middle of a wood a small wooden bridge spanned the river. On one side of the bridge was the Devil’s mustard mill. A huge torrent of water falling from a water fall with such force that it had carved a great corkscrew in the limestone rock. The noise and power of the water was tremendous.  However I turned and looked over the other side of the bridge. There was a deep still pool. The trees were reflected in the water, the sun was glinting on the surface and there was a real sense of stillness, calm and peace. The water was so calm you could see fish swimming below the surface.

It struck me as I stood on the bridge. On the one hand was the Devil’s corkscrew, for me representing life  - a torrent of frenetic activity, fast paced and unrelenting, whilst on the other side was a glorious, calm,  still pool a place where God’s presence and stillness could be found.  It is right that we seek those places where we can find God and allow his presence to permeate our very being.

So to return  to the gospel today we think of John anxiously waiting for the news about Jesus – was he the one? The whole of John’s life had been focused upon him being the herald, preparing the way for the one who was to come to fulfill the scriptures. Here he was expecting the messiah to arrive bringing judgment on the earth with fire and trumpet blast. Jesus arrival couldn’t have been any different. Jesus didn’t fit John’s expectations. And yet there was Jesus in the midst of all humanity, teaching, healing, loving  and redeeming. We don’t know whether the answer John’s disciples returned answered his question or not. But what we do know is that Jesus comes to us to release us from our chains and if we let him in he will lead us, transform us and bringing a message of freedom and hope.

“…the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them…”

On our journey through Advent let us give God a chance to come into our hearts. Let us pause a midst all the hustle and bustle, the planning and the shopping, so that he may he come to us afresh. May we all let go and give God a chance to reveal his purpose and will in us and encounter our own kairos moment.

The Wedding at Cana

John 2.1-11

In our reading to day we heard the amazing story of the wedding at Cana, a reading which is full of symbolism.

It is important to remember that we are still in the Epiphany season, during which we hear many readings, which talk about  the light of Christ coming into the world. The wedding of Cana also reveals to us that light.  Unlike the other gospels John refers to the miracles Jesus carries out as “signs” and the one we heard today is the first sign John recorded. John wanted to communicate to us, very early on in his writings , the divinity of Jesus. That Jesus was the son of God.

The wedding of Cana must have been a great celebration. If any of you have seen a Jewish wedding you will understand what I mean. Unlike weddings in our culture the celebrations can last for up to a week. I have to say I find weddings in our culture exhausting and they only last a day. I could not imagine celebrating for a full week. When we attend weddings it is perfectly normal for us to buy our own drinks particularly in the evening. However at Jewish weddings it is the responsibility of the groom to ensure that there is sufficient food and wine for everyone. Can you imagine how much this would cost and how difficult it would be to estimate how much food and wine would be needed??

In the gospel John tells us that not only Jesus and his mother were at the wedding but also his disciples. Cana was a village about 8 miles north  of Nazareth and a lot of people were often related to each other so it is probable that Jesus knew the bridal couple. The fact that the wine ran out would have been a really big deal. Under Jewish law they were required to provide enough for everyone and not to have done so would have brought shame and disgrace upon the family. In Jewish culture  wine was often used as a metaphor for joy. There was a saying that “without wine there is no joy”. So running out of wine becomes a symbol for those times when life becomes anything but joyous and this wouldn’t have been appropriate for a wedding feast.

So when Mary tells Jesus that the wine has ran out she isn’t just saying it because she wanted another glass herself!. She is doing it out of concern for the family. Mary recognises that Jesus is the one person who could do something to help in this awful situation and trusts that he will do the right thing. She instructs the servants not to question but to  “Do what ever he tells you”

Jesus asks them to fill the six stone jars to the brim with water. Now these jars weren’t really to  be used to drink from as they were set aside for Jewish rites of purification. They were there to enable those present to comply with Jewish law. By using this water Jesus makes a statement. He was there to change the law. To make the old into new, but he was not replacing it but transforming, it bringing life to the old. He was giving a big clue to all those around him  as well as the disciples who were present, that he was here to transform the world and make all things new.

The transformation of the water into wine must have been an amazing experience to behold. You can imagine all of those present being completely amazed, stunned, dumbfounded. How did he do that? The disciples present must have at this point began to realize just who Jesus was.

But he didn’t just tranform water into any old wine. It was the best wine, so much so that they believed the best had been saved until last. John doesn’t record the fact that Jesus waved his arms over the water pots or said anything but it appears that he simply willed this to happen and it did. I am sure that this is how Jesus performs miracles and signs today, often in a low key and subliminal way.  However this miracle is quite different to the others recorded in the gospels. Most of Jesus miracles were concerned with healing the sick and making people whole again. This miracle in not a necessity but a luxury. It wasn’t critical that the wine was transformed but Jesus did it anyway out of compassion for his hosts. This, I think, illustrates clearly that Jesus concerns himself with all aspects of our lives. Both the critical and non critical.

We see evidence of Jesus transforming people all throughout scripture. Father Paul mentioned last week in his sermon about the conversion of St Paul, given that it was his feast day last week. The conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus,  is an example of one of the most dramatic and transformational events in the New Testament. But equally we see God at work in gentler ways where his intervention does not have to be a bolt of lightening such as in the story of Jairus’s daughter or the woman who touched his cloak and was healed.

At Christmas time recently, Bishop Mark gave each ordinand a Christmas gift. Which I thought was rather generous of him.  On opening it I found a copy of a book called In search of the lost. Bishop Mark wrote inside saying that it was one of the most inspirational books he had read that year. I have to say he is very good at recommending books and he was not wrong. The book tells the story of the Melanasian brotherhood. An order of Christian brothers, living a very simple and prayerful life in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

In 2003 seven of the peace loving brothers were kidnapped as a result of ethnic conflict and for four months Christians all over the world prayed desperately for their release. The book is the diary entries kept by a young priest who was tutor and chaplain to the brothers and tells graphically of the harrowing story of their violent deaths and a community trying to come to terms with the tragedy. These seven brothers, peace loving people who lived their lives in service to others, were tortured and killed for their faith in ways too brutal and too upsetting to describe here.

 As you read the chapters, they tell of the challenges the remaining community had to face as a result of their great loss, and how they worked towards healing and reconciliation.

Several things struck me when reading this book but one thing in particular stood out. That despite the unimaginable pain they felt for their lost brothers, they allowed Jesus to transform their pain into Joy. As they gathered together in prayer they recognised Jesus presence amongst them and saw Christ as the liberator, the one whose presence sets people free. They didn’t allow hatred or bitterness to get in the way but as it says in the book

“When we let go and soak up the love from the Lord and others,  we have a whole new power to go on again”

This book is one of the most moving I have read in a long time. None of us can imagine the horror and devastation that this religious community faced. But the thing that struck me most as I read the last few pages of this book is that when Christ is allowed to abide, joy and transformation follows. This book, as much as it was about tragedy, was also about joy and hope and how Christ can transform us just as he transformed water into the very best wine.

The challenge of the Epiphany season is to invite Jesus into our situations – our lives – as Lord and Master – and let’s do whatever he tells us, just as the servants did when they filled the water jars. Because when we invite him in – look what can happen…!