The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….. all very aplaudable, all very well, but we must not forget something.
We hear a lot about Mary’s devotion, her assumption, her saintliness, the way which she is seen down the ages as a God bearer but what about her fear?
Yes, Mary was filled with fear, we here what are familiar words on the lips of Gabriel…. Do not be afraid.
It is a natural reaction and one perhaps we should be more willing to own up to in our faith and in our believing.
We are told in the bible not to be afraid more than any other action…. It is the most popular commandment. Some how though it seems God may recognise our humanity we sometimes do not!
The disciples were also filled with fear from time to time, not least in the accounts of both crucifixion (natural maybe) but also resurrection.
It is not unusual to be filled with a sense of real fear, a dark cloud may descend on us, a mire, a complete losing of a sense of direction, a sense of abandonment. Many things can cause this…. A change, a death, an illness, a seperation, a divorce, a disaster….. many things.
The feeling can even come about by the result of things that may on one level seem happy… a birth, an adoption, moving to a new home, getting married.
In short fear can accompany most times of living. For some it may be more significant than others. We are not all the same.
Strange also but God is sometimes the cause of this fear…which is perhaps why his messengers and even himself often say “Do not be afraid.”
We need to hear these words… do not be afraid I have not left you
Do not be afraid I am with you in your trials.
As I said even the disciples were huddled in fear after the resurrection…. Even the Day of Pentecost had the accompanying words do not be afraid.
For Mary the key to fear was belief. She was able we learn through quiet dedication to put herself into God’s hands, even though she was not sure where this would lead.
For Jesus, the key to fear was again belief… He put his trust in God into your hands I commit my spirit…. He came through the suffering.
For us too I suspect the key to our fear is again belief. Belief and faith in God who never leaves us, whether we look on the crucified or the risen
So today we hold Mary in our thoughts…. Though she proclaimed that her soul delights in God, it was not without holding on to and seeing beyond the fear. We cannot just sweep it under the carpet..
God still says to us “Do not be afraid”
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Todays sermon
I was encouraged to post this today.
Do not be afraid little flock… it is the fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom.
George Appleton wrote Journey for a soul in 1976, here he wrote “ The Kingdom of God was the main subject of the early preaching of Jesus. He claimed that in himself the kingdom had drawn near, was in operation, and he called to men to accept this fact in faith and to change their attitudes, behaviour and world view. Many of his parable dealt with the meaning of the kingdom, as if he were wanting to ensure that those who could not at first understand would remember one vivid human story, and that one day the penny would drop.”
As you may know I am a great fan of St Francis of Assisi. A saint of some magnitude and one who is well known for all sorts of reasons.
St Francis is often described as a saint for our modern age and certainly many are moved today by his example.
Without going into long biographical detail, Francis journey to canonization began when he held on to something ultimately simple, “it is the fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom”
Francis realized that the church of his day had apparently made the kingdom a complicated thing, and had put it apparently beyond the common folks grasp unless they had peculiar access to the church via the priest. The church held the keys to the kingdom and it was not about to share them.
Francis set about living very simply to the words found in the gospels, and the “rule” that he compiled for his followers was basically a few chosen words form the gospels, and all simple words of Jesus. Poverty and simplicity being the groun rules for his method of living.
In this day and age some people still behave as if Living the Kingdom was a difficult and onerous task, and one which is heavily administered by the church (authorities)
Of course you and I know differently.
Why do you and I come to church then? Is it necessary?
Partly yes and partly no.
Some people might say that those who come to church are doing so to fill a gap in their lives. (As if having a gap was a negative thing and it was being filled with something that sounds pseudo) Well I guess the same could be true of any sort of activity, from playing bridge, playing golf, or just going to a bar and drinking with friends.) In this respect we are all of us all the time filling gaps with things.
For me coming to church is a time when I meet with other folk who also in some ways believe that God has a part to play in the life of the world (not a gap filler, god of the gaps stuff. And in meeting with like minded people (like joining a golf club) our game is improved, our relationship with God is improved, and our love for God and one another is also improved.
Of course the way we might to these things vary, from drinking coffee to sitting in silent prayer, to receiving Gods love through physical things like bread and wine.
We may come to church because we are used to it, it may have become a habit, but this may not be a bad thing at all.
We are here because we recognise something of God here and not just here but within ourselves and each other. This is a very liberating thing to do.
Sometimes we do not know what we are are going to discover when we come here, even when we can say the liturgy is the same often.
Understanding that Gods love actually lives inside each one of us, releases us from the thought that the church might hold the essential key, and in the end we realise like Francis that God has given us all the keys.
Having the keys ourselves means that we can duly feel quite excited about the part we play in the kingdom. Each of us are part of what we are doing here. Each of us is responsible.
The word Liturgy, as I think I have explained before means “the work of the people”. It is very important to begin to realise that indeed we all play a part not just in living Kingdom lives but also here in our weekly worship together and at any time we gather for prayer.
Often there may be a leader of the worship, who is designated sometimes president, the one who presides, but without everyone else the activity is almost worthless.. In our tradition we play our part in every way possible, in singing together, in standing and sitting together, in praying together both out loud and in silence, in listening together and in responses. We are always playing a part, even in the Eucharistic prayer which is OUR great prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
Filled with the bread and wine of the kingdom, fired up with love for God and each other, we are then ready to take this Kingdom and God into the worlds in which we live, and just sometimes nobody needs to know what love fires our hearts as we know ourselves that is God we serve and whose kingdom we dwell in. (What I think I mean here is that we do not often need to make anyone feel awkward about us being Christian….)
Again coming back to Francis…. Go and preach the gospel… and only if necessary use words!
George Appleton again, “ The Kingdom is something within you which has the power of growth like a seed, something that you discover almost accidentally. Something that you are searching for, and of whose value you become more confident and excited as the search proceeds, and you discover truer and lovelier things which are constantly being surpassed.”
Do not be afraid little flock… it is the fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom.
George Appleton wrote Journey for a soul in 1976, here he wrote “ The Kingdom of God was the main subject of the early preaching of Jesus. He claimed that in himself the kingdom had drawn near, was in operation, and he called to men to accept this fact in faith and to change their attitudes, behaviour and world view. Many of his parable dealt with the meaning of the kingdom, as if he were wanting to ensure that those who could not at first understand would remember one vivid human story, and that one day the penny would drop.”
As you may know I am a great fan of St Francis of Assisi. A saint of some magnitude and one who is well known for all sorts of reasons.
St Francis is often described as a saint for our modern age and certainly many are moved today by his example.
Without going into long biographical detail, Francis journey to canonization began when he held on to something ultimately simple, “it is the fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom”
Francis realized that the church of his day had apparently made the kingdom a complicated thing, and had put it apparently beyond the common folks grasp unless they had peculiar access to the church via the priest. The church held the keys to the kingdom and it was not about to share them.
Francis set about living very simply to the words found in the gospels, and the “rule” that he compiled for his followers was basically a few chosen words form the gospels, and all simple words of Jesus. Poverty and simplicity being the groun rules for his method of living.
In this day and age some people still behave as if Living the Kingdom was a difficult and onerous task, and one which is heavily administered by the church (authorities)
Of course you and I know differently.
Why do you and I come to church then? Is it necessary?
Partly yes and partly no.
Some people might say that those who come to church are doing so to fill a gap in their lives. (As if having a gap was a negative thing and it was being filled with something that sounds pseudo) Well I guess the same could be true of any sort of activity, from playing bridge, playing golf, or just going to a bar and drinking with friends.) In this respect we are all of us all the time filling gaps with things.
For me coming to church is a time when I meet with other folk who also in some ways believe that God has a part to play in the life of the world (not a gap filler, god of the gaps stuff. And in meeting with like minded people (like joining a golf club) our game is improved, our relationship with God is improved, and our love for God and one another is also improved.
Of course the way we might to these things vary, from drinking coffee to sitting in silent prayer, to receiving Gods love through physical things like bread and wine.
We may come to church because we are used to it, it may have become a habit, but this may not be a bad thing at all.
We are here because we recognise something of God here and not just here but within ourselves and each other. This is a very liberating thing to do.
Sometimes we do not know what we are are going to discover when we come here, even when we can say the liturgy is the same often.
Understanding that Gods love actually lives inside each one of us, releases us from the thought that the church might hold the essential key, and in the end we realise like Francis that God has given us all the keys.
Having the keys ourselves means that we can duly feel quite excited about the part we play in the kingdom. Each of us are part of what we are doing here. Each of us is responsible.
The word Liturgy, as I think I have explained before means “the work of the people”. It is very important to begin to realise that indeed we all play a part not just in living Kingdom lives but also here in our weekly worship together and at any time we gather for prayer.
Often there may be a leader of the worship, who is designated sometimes president, the one who presides, but without everyone else the activity is almost worthless.. In our tradition we play our part in every way possible, in singing together, in standing and sitting together, in praying together both out loud and in silence, in listening together and in responses. We are always playing a part, even in the Eucharistic prayer which is OUR great prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
Filled with the bread and wine of the kingdom, fired up with love for God and each other, we are then ready to take this Kingdom and God into the worlds in which we live, and just sometimes nobody needs to know what love fires our hearts as we know ourselves that is God we serve and whose kingdom we dwell in. (What I think I mean here is that we do not often need to make anyone feel awkward about us being Christian….)
Again coming back to Francis…. Go and preach the gospel… and only if necessary use words!
George Appleton again, “ The Kingdom is something within you which has the power of growth like a seed, something that you discover almost accidentally. Something that you are searching for, and of whose value you become more confident and excited as the search proceeds, and you discover truer and lovelier things which are constantly being surpassed.”
The Rectory Garden blitz and BBQ
We had a great time after church today as a small group descended on trhe Rectory Garden to hack back overgrown undergrowth. Strimmers and mowers, saws and all sorts of stuff set about trying to tame the jungle.
The BBQ was well deserved and even Eli liked that bit! The garden is finally beggining to take some shape.
Young and old, two legged and four legged friends enjoyed a warm afternoon with no rain. A BBQ was part of the plot, and of course various stops for tea and coffee along the way too.
The little dog is called Poppy and Eli just finds her so much fun. The other black labrador is called Charlie, and Eli loves having fun and games with Charlie.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Simon's Graduation in London
Now he really is a Law unto himself!!!!
What a proud and good day, though I was wilting in the heat!!
INDUCED!!
Well yes I am still here as you can see and I am now fully inducted as the Rector. Here is a pictures from the service held at St Magnus in Lerwick. Things are going really well.
I have now fully moved into the town now and live at the Rectory just behind the church, the closest I have ever lived to "the shop". The house needs ahuge amount doing to it and I suspect it is going to be cold and damp in the winter! I hope to be able to open the two fireplaces and get the chimneys dried out which could well help all sorts of things. There is a huge damp patch over my bed in the bedroom which might go once a fire is lit below. The windowes are mostly rotten and do not open so ventilation is challenging.
Eli has now survived two kennel visits and he seems to be ok with that experience which is a good thing.
Last weekend was Simon's graduation in London and I will post a picture of that in the next post.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Alive and kicking!
Hi, I know itg has been some time since I managed to get on here and update things. I have been pretty busy moving into Lerwick and beggining to get sorted with lots more still to get done.
I have also had two days of induction services and legal paraphinalia. (probably spelt wrong)
Any way everything is going pretty well really but i am tired too. Last week saw me three times on Yell.
We have had many cruise liners in to Lerwick and there are lots of holiday makers around too.
I have also had two days of induction services and legal paraphinalia. (probably spelt wrong)
Any way everything is going pretty well really but i am tired too. Last week saw me three times on Yell.
We have had many cruise liners in to Lerwick and there are lots of holiday makers around too.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
The Dog House?
Otherwise known I think as Kennels. Eli is about to experience the dog house for the first time, as I am leaving him here to go south to Telford and Cambridge for a few days.
We had a great birthday party for him the other day, and went out to supper too. so he had a great 5th birthday. It was just a little unfortunate that the restaurant didn't take dogs and the party he only saw the beginning of before being taken back to bed for the rest of it.... any way I had a good time on his behalf, so that counts.
I am taking an empty car down in order to bring it back full of things I left behind in November.
Needless to say I shall be away from the computer for 10 days.
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