This is a picture of The chapel that served the fisher folk by the Episcopal church before St Magnus Church was built

What suffering is Good?

A sermon for second Sunday in Lent.

I found it really interesting working away on this one

This week I have found it moving to consider what it may mean to take up our cross and to follow Jesus, something which we may be encouraged to contemplate during Lent. We have the injunction in today’s gospel from Mark. It goes on to say that if we want to save our life we must first loose it.

This is hard for us to do because we seem biologically programmed to survive, and we interpret that as saving ourselves.

Let us consider then for a moment something quite interesting, and that is that the universe was born in perfect temperature, perfect balance and symmetry at the time of the Big Bang, and that it was only as things settled and cooled down afterwards that the possibility of life began to emerge and of course that also means human existence. It was the asymmetry and “out of balance ness  that made our life possible. Put simply, we live because of disorder and imperfection.

Apparently according to modern physics the universe has learnt to use the “negative” and the “imperfect” to make something good and larger.

The same can be argued for our own humanity and our own life of faith too… we acknowledge our imperfection and it is by God’s grace used to make us larger and better.

Biblical images of Refiners fire, and fullers soap, come to my mind, the sifting of the wheat and the gold passing through the assayers fire.

We mature in faith and grow in holiness, by precisely accepting the cross and not avoiding it. We grow with God when we suffer and find our redemption in it. We become changed from Glory to Glory by choosing what the world today counts as negative.

Not an easy ask!

Being honest about who we know we are, with the negative too, is what brings us to God’s kingdom. The way of the world suggests otherwise, it is more likely to imply striving for perfection, and climbing a ladder, and winning… reaching the goal so to speak.

Jesus implies the opposite, to loose oneself in order to gain it. And this is precisely what we believe he did too, as he died and was raised.

Should we think that for some reason Christ’s way is not one that we should also follow?

Mark has also made me notice something else interesting and thought provoking. When he says that we should take up our cross he uses exactly the same verb in the Greek as he uses earlier in the gospel   when we hear Jesus saying to the paralytic man “take up your bed and walk”.

For the paralytic the “illness” which somehow had defined the person, was precisely what was holding him back from being who God wanted him to be. Or from what God had created him to be.

His suffering was not life giving. That sort of suffering was diminishing him.

The paralytic had literally become bed bound and was going nowhere. Jesus speaks to him and simply invites him to take up his bed and walk.

What we may think defines us and keeps us back is what Jesus says we must walk away from. Stop being the victim now and begin to live again. Don’t let yourself be defined by your negativity.. your illness.. your imperfection.. but take up your bed and walk away from it.

So in today’s gospel he says to us to Take up our cross and follow. The same word is again used when Simon of Cyrene takes up Jesus Cross.

The cross though seen by the world as something which leads to destruction leads us to God himself.

Taking up the cross is “raising us up”, is to elevate us. It is weighing the anchor to sail away, it is loosing us from what binds us, it frees us.

The Bed and the cross are actually connected.

The suffering associated with both are quite different.

One, holds us back though it may be seen as giving us our character and defines who we are, the Other is precisely what we avoid picking up because in the worlds eyes it leads to death and destruction, but for us to carry it, it makes us who we are before God. (and brings us life).

It may make us think again about what we are saying when we say “we all have our crosses to bear”.

St Francis said “ we must bear patiently not being good … and not being thought good”

Jesus says blessed are the poor in Spirit for the kingdom of God is theirs…. Take up your cross and follow me”

Baptism of Christ

Sermon for  St Magnus on Sunday 11th January.... after heavy winds!!

A wind from God was seen sweeping across the waters…… We all know what that feels like! Plenty of ships had taken shelter I noticed on Thursday and Friday… the wind has been fierce.

Genesis opens the scene with this wind from God… the mighty drum roll for the creative drama to unfold.

Mark begins his drama with a similar dramatic opening…. We certainly get the impression in both accounts that something great and something of God is unfolding quickly before us.

By verse 5 in Genesis we have day one completed, and by verse 9 in Mark Jesus the Son of God has been revealed.

For Mark the Baptism of Jesus is the great Epiphany of God. Last week we had the Epiphany of Matthew with wise men from the East recognising the movement of God, and before that of course we had Luke’s Epiphany moment when the focus was on the inn in Bethlehem and the stable round the back.

In all these Epiphanies God has been seen revealing himself and inviting us to in turn recognise that in Christ God was at work redeeming the world.

For Mark John the Baptist is Elijah. (He even dresses identically to him and this is clearly pointed out) and just as Elijah called on the people of Israel to repent and be part of the Kingdom in the second book of Kings, so John calls the people to repent and be part of the Kingdom. Baptism in water was common place among Jews in recommitting themselves to God and it was also the sign for Gentiles entering into Judaism.

Jesus is seen aligning himself alongside humanity and being baptised too. In this act Jesus is recognised alongside and in solidarity with all of us.

The Baptism of Christ was an important moment for Mark, who as we know was not at all interested in birth narratives. The Baptism fulfils the same function as Luke’s Shepherds and Matthew Wise men.

Some of you may have seen the TV series “who do you think you are?” where a celebrity delves into their family history The Baptism of Christ was Marks way of proving that God was in Christ…. His story starts here The kingdom of God is revealed and the chosen son of God is made manifest.

It is interesting that at the baptism a voice is heard by Jesus (we are not told others heard it at that time) that He is God’s son and God is pleased by this, and at the end of the Gospel the centurion at the cross is publicly heard to proclaim “truly this was God’s son”. What a wonderful way of tying the beginning of the drama as it unfolds to the end.

Furthermore at the Baptism the heavens were torn apart and the next time they get torn apart for Mark is at the crucifixion as Jesus gasps his last breath and as they tear aprt then the curtain of the temple was also seen being torn from top to bottom, thus signifying the way to God fully accessible and obtainable.

Part of the trouble for us is that we have become so familiar with the stories and we also only get snatches of them. The complete drama often remains hidden or overlooked by us.

Marks gospel is too often seen as the more downplayed story because it seems to ignore the birth and it has a rather stunted and bad end. But if we can see it for what it is hopefully we can see it as just as dramatic as any other.

Here is the Good news of God….

Read all about it …..read all about it!  This story is going to change how you think about God and even how you think about yourself.

The Christians in Ephesus recognised this when they experienced the wind from God blowing amongst them too….. another Pentecost story if ever we needed one… there were even about twelve of them again.

So to bring things to a conclusion.

The wind from God seen creating in Day one Gods creation was in tune with God and aligned alongside him, it was a wonderful exchange. This creative power of God is seen time and time again calling his people back to him in various ways, and in the life of Jesus we see it all over again as a new creation is revealed and a new possibility made clear for us Gods people.

The Holy Spirit is still felt blowing among us constantly revealing the works of the Kingdom to us.

O Come let us adore him… truly this man was God’s Son.

A wonderful time

Last Thursday we celebrated my mum and dad's diamond wedding anniversary. It was truly a diamond moment.
Hannah and Tristan came up. Simon came up. My mum dad and brother martin came up. The day itself saw us opening lots of cards, including one from Elizabeth the second! We celebrated with supper at the Lerwick Hotel and we had a lovely meal.

One for the memory banks for sure

Forgiveness

How often should I forgive?

As we come closer to the “unpacking forgiveness” seminar in Sound hall I have naturally been giving the topic a great deal of thought, so it feels daunting to have such a central subject to our belief and faith set before me today.

Forgiveness is huge in every sense of the word, it is as complex as it is essential. We do not have an option it seems to me and yet we have to keep on going for it over and over again, and today Jesus recognises the process may never reach the conclusion.

Forgiveness is central to Gods relationship to human kind. “It is the divine correlative of human sin” (Dictionary)This is clear from the opening verses of the Old Testament where the relationship between us is mapped out, and even the final verses of out New testament emphasise the importance of this binding relationship.

Because the relationship we have to God is bound up with forgiveness the process of forgiveness is at the very heart of what we are as humans. This is so clearly seen in the heart of what we call the Lord’s Prayer… Forgives us as we forgive.

 As Christians we cannot duck the issue, no matter how painful the issue might become. Sure… I would often want to move away from it, dance around the edges sometimes but each time I know there is no real ducking.

I have been reading “The book of forgiveness” by Desmond and Mpho Tutu. I warmly commend this to you all. He describes forgiveness as a fourfold path ( a cycle of forgiveness in fact), which is helpful as it maps out a process and journey over which we travel as forgiveness unfolds. And as the word suggests the cycle may often repeat as the journey goes on.

Here I read the curious phrase “Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past”

It is a phrase which needs thought and anguish.

The flipside of the path of forgiveness is simply scary. We either choose one path or the other… but the scary part is the  other cycle is the cycle of revenge.

Somehow we trick ourselves into thinking that by following this route we can change what has been done.  We cannot.!

Desmond Tutu, among many others, emphasise that Forgiveness is not about forgetting. Indeed the cycle of forgiveness demands that the story be told, and heard.

The path of forgives is tough and bumpy and it involves facing many things we try to avoid, anger bitterness, resentment, revenge, hurt, pain and loss.

We pray to God to forgive us as we also forgive and we ask how many times should we do this. I did once hear a member of one of my congregations talking to another member and they were struggling with a sense of injustice that had been done to them… the trouble was it was not the first time.. she knew the issue was not easy, she knew the other person quite well, and with natural desperation I heard her say “but there is a limit….”

A phrase which even if we do not say we certainly feel.

Peter felt there was a limit and he was willing to go all the way… as many as seven times? Once again Peter is put in his place!

One thing for certain is that there is nothing magical about forgiveness. It is healing, it is wholeness, it is healthy, it is goodness… but it is not magic. It is not instant or easy, it is not quick and certainly not cheap.

We all need it from God and others, but boy it is difficult to work it, to play our own part in it.

Forgive us God,,, as we forgive others!

Sometimes the words stick I my throat I do not know about you?

Matthew paints his usual horrible scenario for the one who fails to forgive.

No matter what happened Reeva Steemkamp was killed by Oscar Pistorius. It has been a long a convoluted case. June Steemkamp said a number of weeks ago that she had forgiven Oscar for doing this.

She did not say, it didn’t matter, she did not say it did not hurt, she did not say I want Oscar to be set free from jail, or for the trial to find him Not Guilty of anything. She did not say I do not want justice to be done.

She did say that she could not live herself without forgiveness, and that she did not want to be trapped in the past, which could not be undone. She did recognise that for her own life forgiveness was the only way forward.

What an example to us who think on these things.

Forgive us Lord, as we forgive….. give us the strength and courage to walk the path of forgiveness even if I have the ground seventy times seven times.

Feast of Presentation February 2nd

Malachi asks a leading question today. “who can endure the day of his coming, who can stand when he appears?”

What was it about Simeon that made him so ready and able to see the unfolding of salvation?

Was it because he had been waiting for so long patiently? It was not because he was a man, because Anna was also able to recognise the coming of God too..

Would we have been able to stand there and recognise God as the parents carried the baby to the temple, or more likely I suspect we would be looking over their shoulders for something a bit more obviously comforting.

Anna and Simeon recognised God because they trusted in him all their life. They were connected with generations of faithful Jews before them who looked toward God and not just their faith tradition.

Our problem is that so often we find ourselves looking to our faith tradition and put our hope and trust there, rather than in God himself.

Who can endure to put faith in God, who is able to remain standing strong when he comes?

To look at our faith tradition is often comfort and even uplifting. The saints and teachers down the ages, those who have inspired us and lifted us… the voices of affirmation.

To look to God we face many more uncomfortable things. We see scary moments, moments of pain and failure, moments of doubt and despair, we even perhaps look into the face of death and destruction itself.

That is not a nice place to look.

Can we endure the day of his coming?

As we look to God today we must lift our gaze a little further than we are perhaps used to. Simeon and Anna were able to do this, tradition also suggests Mary was able to do this too.

What have we to take on board to be able to do this “star” gazing. Richard Rohr seeks to open up this question in a book I am reading at present.

1.     We look at ourselves the person we are. We see and recognise our own needs, the way we search for significance and meaning. The desire for self affirmation, and even love. This is the private self and we must recognise it, love it. Hold it. It is not all good we know this, but it is probably not all bad either! We recognise our own private struggles, our journey. This is my story

2.     Against my story we recognise “Our story” the one where I find myself with others. The group I am part of, the church and faith group. The culture I am part of, the people to whom I am faithful too, the ideas I support. The church which has taught us so much about God and prayer. About good and evil, right and wrong. Our concepts of rightness.

3.     Against “Our story” we go further now and see a bigger picture. “The whole story”. The truth and nothing but the truth if you like…. In the real story the smallness of me is seen for what it is, important yes but so small too. Did you know that fifteen people have died to enable you to be here today …….(explain)

Against the real truth we also put into perspective “our story”, the story that makes us who we are too. The illusion that “us” is what matters. That our group is what matters. Against the real truth the whole story that is where God is and it God’s perspective.

Holding together goodness and pain, things which we more naturally want to keep apart, indeed some would say they were opposites, as if they were not connected.

As God see the world goodness and pain are essential together. For Simeon and Anna and for Mary the pain and sharpness of death was bound up in the life of the baby Jesus.

This is what enabled them to endure the day.

As we behold our own stories today let us also be able to see the pain and Joy being held within the gaze of God. Let us feel stronger to recognise God holding us in entirety.

We take our own lives more seriously and honestly when we hold good and bad together. We are not trapped with a small view of ourselves or even the group we belong to, we are lifted to see ourselves as God sees and holds us. It is this picture that the Kingdom of God domes to dwell.

Simeon and Anna felt fulfilled when holding the baby they declared a vision of the Kingdom, not just for their people but for the whole world.

As the songs puts it “he’s got the whole world in his hands, he has all of us in his hands, he has, by being alongside us through the incarnation, drawn everything into God and shown God to everything.

So we are enabled to endure the day of his coming as Simeon and Anna were.

Thanks be to God

Some bits of news long overdue!

I know February is now upon us, and I am sorry it has taken so long to get writing.

However we have now begun our 150th Anniversary at St Magnus in Lerwick

Here is a picture painted at the turn of last century after the distinctive tower was added.

The Rectory is a lot different this winter thanks to the new windows. It s just as well we had them done because we have had such awful storms that either the windows upstairs may have blown out, or the wind would have found its way inside somehow.

We had a good Up Helly Aa last week and though it was very cold and windy it did stay dry for Da Galley burning.
Jack is busy getting read for his own even next week so I may have some pictures of that.

I am looking forward to introducing Rachel to te Lake District in April. We have booked a week at the Winchester Guest house in Keswick. Hopefully Hannah and Simon will be able to join us for a few days too which will be brilliant. Jack is staying back in Shetland as School is still on, but he will have fun with Grandma and Grandad and his own Dad too.

Work is going well and I am staying very busy. If it not one it is the other!

I must be settling in now because at a recent funeral I seemed to know  a lot of people who came along even though it was not at St Magnus or St Colman. Furthermore those who I did not already know came up to me after and said they knew me! (well actually my in laws and wife... I even met Rachels old teacher, and the lady who died actually used to live in the house Rachel grew up in... so there!