PENTECOST 2013

Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church, and though I might have mentioned last week that Pentecost was the time the Holy Spirit descended on the church, I have been reminded, if I did say this, that in many respects this description is probably incorrect and at best unhelpful!

It is probably incorrect because as the person who contacted me pointed out, you could hardly describe the church as existing in any recognisable form at the Feast of Pentecost.

At that time the disciples at best could have been described a s a group of like-minded people forced together by force of circumstance and a deep admiration for Jesus of Nazareth whom they had seen crucified and who was somehow also alive still for them.

It could be however true that something once again happened to this bunch of friends on this feast day as all of a sudden they were no longer kept behind closed doors for fear of the Jews!

If the Holy Spirit was like a wind from heaven blowing amongst the disciples, then it certainly blew the door off their hinges.

It is also probably unhelpful to describe the Holy Spirit as descending on the church at Pentecost.

First of all is could suggest that the Holy Spirit was new at this time, when of course we know that God’s Spirit had been around his people long before the disciples experienced it at Pentecost. Indeed the Jews had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost, the time when The Law was given by God as a constant reminder of his presence with the people.

What the church does with the feast day is quite similar as we also proclaim it is the sign of God’s presence with us his people today. And just as for the Jews around Sinai clouds storms and winds come into the experience of God.

Another way it is unhelpful to speak of the Holy Spirit Descending, is as someone else pointed out to me, the Holy Spirit comes within us and some prefer to speak f the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit rather than it being poured on us like water, though of course the link to baptism can also be helpful in describing the experience.

On Wednesday morning we had a reading from 1 John and an interesting and perhaps more helpful expression came to light regarding eternal life…. The idea that it was something that abided in us and not something which we received or earned if you like. The same could be said of the Holy Spirit of course.

We so often use the language of acquisition, or earning it or being rewarded with it like a medal, instead of the more helpful analogy of recognising it as part of who we are before God.

Perhaps it may be helpful to understand the way God’s Spirit works within us to look at the Gospel reading for today  which talks about Love. We are more used to seeing Love as something we have within and which we share with those around. Jesus certainly focused on the Act of loving as the sign that God was with us. Jesus also speaks of something called God’s Spirit abiding within us.

At Easter we have celebrated Life bursting from death and at Pentecost we celebrate Love bursting from within us and empowering us to be witnesses.

The whole meaning of the story set before us today is that we are witnesses to God loving and living presence. This presence literally changes who we are and others should recognise it.

When Moses discovered the presence of God in the burning bush he was told it was holy ground and in respect he removed his shoes as many still do in holy places.

At Pentecost the people were gathered and recognised God and asked Peter what they should do now that they have recognised this.  It says “they were cut to the heart when they recognised God in their midst on the Day of Pentecost and asked when must we do… Peter said “repent and be baptised” and Luke records three thousand were baptised that day.

What part of the gathered crowd are we?

Are we going to scoff?

Are we just here for the show?

Do we recognise God still in our midst at Pentecost?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote:

Earth’s crammed with heaven

And every common bush alive with God.

Only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”

(Aurora Leigh)

As someone I knew and loved used to say. “Good old God”

St Ninian's Pilgrimage Day

We had a great day on Saturday at st Ninian's Isle. Many of us made it across the Tombola on a very cold and , day to celebrate the Eucharist before heading back to Bigton Hall where others were  assembled and we had communion together followed by a warming feast of soup and pancakes. Here we are braving the elements !!

Here we go Rodney!

Sundays sermon so eagerly waited for.

My friend Rodney thought it was worthy of hearing again!!

"No wonder we do not loose heart" and again, "Set your troubled hearts at rest" John 14

I have used these many times at funerals and at other times of crisis, it is patently so obvious that it is far easier to say them than to take them to heart, and to feel really comforted by them.

In reality we do often tend to loose heart and our hearts despite our Faith, continue to be troubled.

We have all known people, if not ourselves who have carried very heavy hearts with them for a very long time, lives crippled and crumpled by suffering.

What real impact will that comfort have, because we all feel that for these people something plainly awful has happened, or is happening, something which rightly brings us and them to question an understanding of life, probably makes us want to in some way question the importance of Faith, and for many to will raise questions about the so called "God of Love" who as far as we are concerned should not allow these sorts of things to happen, especially to the people we feel close to.

So where are we really to find comfort and strength if words fail us, and formulas seem to have lost some of their potency even if they had any

Strangely enough these issues and problems have beset people of Faith and the Christian church for many thousands of years. We have plainly become more complex and clever as the years role by, but the fundamental questions remain the same

The Jews developed a fairly rigorous system to allow and enable them to get through life. It became known as the Torah and with this to hand alongside other books of careful interpretation of it, the nation grew and developed into a nation of sincere and faithful people. The whole of their lives being bound up with God, and at the same time the way in which this was made possible was through the keeping of the Torah, (teachings)

The Early church too began to develop a fairly strict list of rules for all baptised followers. This became so guarded at one time that only the initiated were allowed to know it, and scholars have named this, "the disciplina arcani" the hidden disciplines, because they were so secret. This developed partly due to the scene in which the church had to live, often with lives threatened and frequently under persecution, but it also developed because of the tendency for any group of people to begin to regularise things in order to keep everything tidy and to some extent under control.

There are problems with this approach, and Johns Gospel seems to be aware of these difficulties, and appears to have been written, to combat the move towards presenting the gospel of Jesus as a series of rules and procedures, against thinking it could be contained in a set of doctrines and creeds.

The writer of John's Gospel feels that The gospel of Jesus was running the risk of being made to impersonal, and he wanted to redress the balance towards the relationship between the believer and Jesus.

This is the meaning behind the sixth of the "I am" sayings found in the Gospel, "I am the way the truth and the life." It is not a statement about the exclusiveness of the Christian way, but rather a pointer, an antidote, to those who tended to govern their faith by rules and prescriptions. instead of the person and example of Jesus.

For to have seen the Son was to have seen the Father. Jesus was the way.. It all comes down to the relationship between the believer, Jesus and the Father.

John Fenton wrote on this point,

" Jesus himself is the way; there is very little teaching of Jesus in Johns Gospel except on the subject of who he is. He will be present with his disciples through the paraclete; and his presence will make it unnecessary for them to have any teaching on what is the way in which they are to live. Similarly, he does not provide them with knowledge in the forms of doctrines to be believed; he himself is the truth, and they will have the truth only in their relationship with him. And the life that he brings cannot be separated from him: gift and giver are identical; in him was life."

This brings us back to the point where I started, "Set your troubled hearts at rest, Trust in God... Trust also in me."

Our support, doesn't come in the form which we really feel that we want very often. We would often like neat answers, and certainly an end to what we feel is tragic and awful sadness and suffering.

Our support is deeper and more important than that, it comes in the form of a person, the person of Jesus. Not in the form of answers or words. Just as often for us our support comes from those who are just with us and loving us, instead of trying to give us advice or answers to the problems we blurt out to them.

Cast your burden on me, come to me he said if you are heavy laden. Share yourself with me and I will share myself with you, and in the Eucharist we believe we do this in the most intimate of ways by allowing his own being to physically rest within us, to become part of us "that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us."

Jesus does not give us the answers, he gives us his love and shares himself with us. This is where the power to overcome will proceed from.

Sharing our love with those who are suffering and with Jesus who suffered for us yet was raised to be our comforter.

EASTER SUNDAY

Jesus is a pretty remarkable character when you think about it.

We really know very little about him considering his impact on human history, we do not really know when he was born or where, he may not have been learned and it wold not appear he wrote much anyway if he did. It does appear he could read and he appears to have been able to tell stories.

We do not know when he was born though notionally “Dennis the Short” Dionysius to his friends suggested the year 0, but he got this wrong! And now we think it was 4 or 6 BC which always feels odd when you say it.

He seems to have lived mostly in obscurity, he may have been a carpenter, he may have been poor, but we know he had a brief public existence that could have lasted as little as three months or as much as three years, and he never travelled more than a couple of hundred miles from his place of birth.

We know he was crucified when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea.

And we certainly know that the world is different because of his influence in one way or another.

Indeed we are here today to celebrate the fact that somehow Jesus Matters to each of us, and that without his presence our lives would be utterly unrecognisable.

Furthermore somehow we say that this presence of Jesus with us today and the reason he still matters in the present tense and not the past tense is that his rose from the dead.

Don’t please expect me today to tell you how or in what sense this happened…. After all church history from then until now has differed widely on this point.

We do realise that for the early disciples like Peter, Stephen and Paul it seems the empty tomb was not very significant at all. The fact that Jesus was crucified was important and the proclamation that his life continued after three days was also significant.

How this was accomplished is unknown, how Godly or manly Jesus was is also not clear except by beliefs and doctrines set down by his followers since. You might say it was all a matter of opinion.

But you and I are here because the opinion we do share is that Jesus Matters now, as well as then.

As Christianity broke out into the Greek world and Roman Empire it was certainly more prevalent to speak of divine beings coming to earth. For the Jewish nation this notion was too difficult to swallow.

Paul seems to come down on the notion that it was after Death that Jesus was found seated at the right and of the Father, but thousands of years of controversy and discussion have probably clouded the issue.

So we are left with the “now” for us.

It has been said that the one thing we can be certain of is the now. It is the now where we can make a difference.

The past we can do nothing about, the future is yet to be, it is the present where we live. It is most real part of time for us all.

It is into the now time that we say Jesus lives alongside us. This is what has to transform what and who we are.

This is celebrated in the church not just at Easter but hopefully each time we gather together….  indeed Sunday became known as “The Lord’s Day” precisely because of this transforming power of the life of Jesus that conquers not just his own death but even the death of our very selves.

Paul Bloomer last Tuesday spoke many times about his pictures most movingly as the conquering of light over the darkness. For Christian lives the light (of Christ) has to win over the darkness of “death and destruction”. Paul portrayed this many times in his images, but we all know I expect the feelings of the times when this victory is won in our own lives.

The Passion gospel graphically portrays the times the struggle of light and dark, of death and life, are played out in the story.

The Easter Gospel likewise is constantly telling of the opposite,

 the times when life wins

and the light shines through the darkness. Weary fishermen are transformed, strangers and sceptics come to believe and are made welcome,

bedraggled disciples are filled with fresh life and hope..

and even criminals are promised a part of the kingdom too.

It is from beginning to end a story of transforming power. Of the way God breaks into our lives and makes them real today. NOW.

It is a story that is lived through our own lives TODAY … NOW.

Jesus Christ is Rise today alleluia

Now is eternal life, if Risen with Christ we Stand.

We are Christ for our world today. alleluia

GOOD FRIDAY SERMON

Today once again is Good Friday.

Today once again we stand facing the cross on which Jesus was crucified and died. It is significant that his close friends all forsook him and fled when the going got dangerous, and there is no evidence that any of his disciples were anywhere near.

Luke’s gospel records that his friends stood at a distance and watched while others brought cold comfort and sour wine to their friend as he died a most horrendous and inexplicable death.

Pilate had seen no reason for it, neither had Herod, and yet the general will of the crowd had prevailed, and Jesus died. Common justice was not served. His trial was a mockery, and even according to Jewish law illegal.

So it could be seen as a surprise that this day is revered as important for some.

We do face  some interesting questions as we come to this place. Questions about Justice for sure, questions about a just God who allowed his son to be punished for things he had clearly not done.

Questions about how it could all work anyway that a death of a man is seen or believed to make a difference to people living even today.

As Christians today these and other questions are not ones we should duck away from, and I don’t think it very helpful to simply blame it all or explain it all on the “way god works”

Opinion has been divided for many hundreds of years about the effects of Good Friday and Easter. For those who like to see punishment as the way of solving crime (sin) then today is key because it is seen as God punishing his own son for our wrongs and thus winning us freedom.

Others find this penal approach to justice flawed and cruel, fulfilling little purpose, yet to see God raising Jesus despite everything after death is a sort of restorative justice where love and forgivness have a real place and heart. And we see something of this as Jesus forgives those who punish him without the need for restitution or even penance, and the repentant thief is gifted paradise despite not being able to do much to “deserve” it.

On Sunday we heard the parable of the workers who were paid a days wage despite only working for a few hours in the day. And God declaring that surely he could do this as he was just it it had been agreed. Many find this approach of God very “unfair” to our way of thinking

God is declares in the Old Testament that he is about to do something new, he tells us that we should not remember the former things for something new is going to begin.

The ways we think are about to be turned on their head, and Jesus teaching also bears this out. Jesus was radical and not conformist, and yet we often like to see Jesus as quite conforming to the way we want to think. It is a bit of a conundrum.

I wonder what it is like to held secure and then to be let free. I wonder what it must feel like to be held in prison and then to be released?

It is perhaps no wonder that prisoners find this moment quite daunting and scary. How will we manage, will we make a mess of it over again as we slip back so effortlessly into the old ways, the ways we know.

Today, we begin to face the cross face to face and realise our own part in it. Our own part in the suffering, not just of Christ, but even of ourselves.

Is God about to do something new, can he make something new happen in us, or are we going to slip back into the ways we are so familiar with?

There is little doubt that the Olympics last year inspired many of us. The tenacity and courage of the athletes to enter the games alone never mind to succeed and win medals was immense. We heard stories of a lifetime of dedication and perseverance. It is no wonder that Paul uses a It It is not easy to believe in Jesus. We may like to think it is comfortable and conformist to do so but let’s face it hundreds of years have made it safe and secure for us to do so. Let us not forget Christians and other believers are still persecuted for believing.

 Paul comes to a sporting analogy, when he is talking about the efforts needed to be a believer, the efforts he says are needed to stand alongside Christ in his sufferings so that we can also share the resurrection. It was a life and death scenario for him.

Paul speaks of pressing on to make it his own…. It is a single minded approach, a focused and solitary task. But also a costly journey.

Todays gospel is perhaps a strange sort of “Good News” as it is uncomfortable news as we stand and stare suffering in the face and are powerless to do anything about it. Or we choose not to do anything about it.

Earlier in the Passion narratives we had been contemplating an intimate meal at the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Here Mary once again showed us the way as in silence the room is filled with the fragrance of the simple act of contemplation.

Like Mary and Martha today we seem to have a choice. We can busy ourselves or we can be still. It comes natural to be busy, but less natural to be still.

Questions of the justice of God aside, Today we stand at the raw face of the suffering Christ, powerless and yet adoring and as we do so we pray earnestly that God’s redeeming love can be felt within.

I do not see our act as being magical, or even as though we can earn anything by being here. If there is anything Good Friday can teach us it is that action does not win the day, doing things, even attending church today is not the solution.

Christians are called upon to pray, and to do this simple act continuously.

Yet we can even be seen to busy ourselves in prayer and miss the object of the desire completely.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote about prayer in these words “Prayer does not change God, it changes the person who prays” yet our attitude has so long been that we are trying to gain the attention of God when we are praying. We  rarely see it as silence and waiting. As gazing and being held.

We see it in the life of Jesus frequently, and it was reflected in the early years with many seeking solitude in the desert, being with God in silence and expecting something new to happen was what the life of prayer was all about.

It is surprising that we habitually react as if being busy is the right choice.  God is doing a new thing in us as we learnt that apparently gazing and doing nothing is a way of letting God in.

Stephen Cherry has highlighted this reaction this lent by urging the church to react against the need to proclaim business as the good way. He has challenged many to re think their attitude to living as if it was better to be able to prove that every moment of a working day was crammed with activity.

We are invited today one again to be still in the presence of God, to hear God speaking in the silence of our lives, but we give him little opportunity, as we busy him out or talk over him.

Let us be more still.

It continues to take the years rolling by to uncover what Good Friday and Easter means for the Christian believer.

However we see it, from what distance we see it, let us see God doing something new……. And let is not always expect it to be comfortable or to conform.

responding to comments!!

My Auntie Freda, (Godmother) is an avid reader of this blog, so my mum and dad tell me. When I was on the phone the other day I was told that it appeared my sermons had not been posted for a while. Well this does seem to be the case so I will try make ammends. Perhaps appropriately here is today's sermon... it all about busy ness...!!!!


here goes.....

Lent 5 Lerwick 2013 Yr C

Today it all becomes a little more personal. God is declaring in the Old Testament reading that he is about to do something new, he tells us that we should not remember the former things for something new (and by definition new) is going to begin.

I wonder what it is like to held secure and then to be let free. I wonder what it must feel like to be held in prison and then to be released?

It is perhaps no wonder that prisoners find this moment quite daunting and scary. How will we manage, will we make a mess of it over again as we slip back so effortlessly into the old ways, the ways we know.

Today Passiontide begins, we begin to face the cross face to face and realise our own part in it. Our own part in the suffering, not just of Christ, but even of ourselves.

Is God about to do something new, can he make something new happen in us, or are we going to slip back into the ways we are so familiar with?

There is little doubt that the Olympics last year inspired many of us. The tenacity and courage of the athletes to enter the games alone never mind to succeed and win medals was immense. We heard stories of a lifetime of dedication and perseverance. It is no wonder that Paul uses a sporting analogy, when he is talking about the efforts needed to be a believer, the efforts he says are needed to stand alongside Christ in his sufferings so that we can also share the resurrection. It was a life and death scenario for him.

Paul speaks of pressing on to make it his own…. It is a single minded approach, a focused and solitary task. But also a costly journey.

The gospel for today takes us back to the home of Mary and Martha. Mary once again shows us the way as I silence the room is filled with the fragrance of the simple act of contemplation. Like Mary and Martha today we seem to have a choice. We can busy ourselves or we can be still. It comes natural to be busy, but less natural to be still. Our praying can be similar, we can even busy ourselves in prayer and miss the object of the desire completely.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote about prayer in these words “Prayer does not change God, it changes the person who prays” yet our attitude has so long been that we are trying to gain the attention of God when we are praying. We  rarely see it as silence and waiting. As gazing and being held.

We see it in the life of Jesus frequently, and it was reflected in the early years with many seeking solitude in the desert, being with God in silence and expecting something new to happen was what the life of prayer was all about.

It is surprising that we habitually react as if being busy is the right choice.

Stephen Cherry has highlighted this reaction this lent by urging the church to react against the need to proclaim business as the good way. He has challenged many to re think their attitude to living as if it was better to be able to prove that every moment of a working day was crammed with activity.

We are invited to be still in the presence of God, to hear God speaking in the silence of our lives, but we give him little opportunity, as we busy him out or talk over him.

Let us be more still

Sundays sermon

Epiphany means?

Christmas is all about Epiphany

Matthew Mark Luke and John all have Epiphany and they express things differently depending on their readership and time of writing.

The Disciples had Epiphanies, times when the purpose of Jesus was made so very clear to them.

Many characters of the Gospels had epiphanies such as the woman at the well. “He told me everything about me”

Throughout our reading of the bible we also get moments of understanding... times when the work of God is clearly felt in our lives and through the church.

The Church (you and I) are called to be Epiphanies for the world today, but we often manage to obscure this.!!

People in our society today need clarity, they need the Gospel (Good news) that God is for them and not against them. That God is close and not far away.

Far too many people have experienced the church as power and control. (something that was so very obvious in Rome last week) The history of Shetlands churches also give evidence to the power and control the people felt the church put them under

If we can be better epiphanies then people may begin to see how things fit into place. The dawn of new hope may be made clear.

There is a God shaped hole in each of us let us fill it with the God we have seen show himself.

I would like to share this story with you It is set in China when the communists came to power. Many Christians were tried for their faith. One was given the opportunity to reveal why he had chosen Christianity instead of the religion of his ancestors.

He said to the interrogators,

"I was in a deep pit sinking in the mire and totally helpless. I looked up to see a shadow at the top of the pit. The shadow spoke, "My Son, I am Confucius, the father of your country. If you had obeyed my teachings you would never have been here," and then he passed on adding "if you ever get out of this, remember my teachings".

 But of course this did not save him.

Then Buddha appeared at he edge of the pit, and leaning over he spoke to  me at the bottom:" My Son, just count it all as nothing. Enter into rest. Fold your arms and retire within yourself, and you will find nirvana, the peace to which we are all tending. The* I cried out to him, "Father Buddha if you will only help me to get out, I wilI be glad to do so, I could follow your instructions easily if I were where you are, but how can I find rest in this awful place?" Buddha passed on and left me to my despair.

Then another face appeared, it was the face of a man beaming with kindness, and bearing the marks of sorrow. He did not linger a moment, but leaped down to my side, threw his arms around me and lifted me out. He brought me to the solid ground above; then did not even bid me farewell, but took off my filthy garments, put new robes upon me, and bade me follow him, saying," I will never leave you nor forsake you" That is why I became a Christian.

That little story illustrates something of the  Epiphany which is the glory of God in that it helps us to see how the Glory of God is something strangely at our side, something that is always there.

Mother Julian of Norwich once saw in her showings a small I hazelnut and was amazed at the sight of it. It smallness and frailty, and yet she was told this was all that was made and it lasts forever because God loves it. This led Julian to realise three things

1.  that God Made it

2.  That God loves it.

3.  That god looks after it.

The Glory of God is to be found in the life around us. In even the unlikely places of our lives.

Paul, whose conversion we celebrated  on Friday saw the Glory of God revealed in the cross. Again a less likely place for glory to be revealed you couldn’t find. He said "Let us boast of nothing except the cross of Christ Crucified"

Elsewhere, in his epistles  he talks of the Glory of God at work in him in proclaiming the Gospel.

But the remarkable thing is that he speaks

of this as he is in prison and in great suffering for the Faith.

He writes of "Christ in You, the hope of Glory."

 (col 1:27.)

So we pray that the signs of Glory will be seen in and through the church, will be recognised by ourselves in common places of our lives, and will bring light to the darkness of our lives, and that we will be enablers of Epiphany to those around us.