Love, Love, Love

Gospel	John 16:12-15

Jesus said:

‘I still have many things to say to you

but they would be too much for you now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes

he will lead you to the complete truth,

since he will not be speaking as from himself

but will say only what he has learnt;

and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me,

since all he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.

Everything the Father has is mine;

that is why I said:

All he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.’

There are many challenges to Faith. Some of them come from outside; from those whose only faith is in what can be proved; scientifically, mathematically, logically. 

But the challenges within are even stronger; the challenge not to rely on science, mathematics or logic. To have faith; to believe in a God that contains all that but is beyond all that; who made us in His image but who cannot be imagined. An explainable God is really not a God at all.

A God who named himself ‘I am’ (himself/herself – even our language conspires against us) and left us to imagine an Almighty Father, Creator of the Universe God ruling over us, who loved his people from some distant Paradise; an ancient Presence seemingly unconcerned with the minutiae of our lives; until Jesus....

And here we have God; a son; a brother; a friend; a storyteller; a healer. A man who loves so deeply that he will die for the least of us; who loves his Father so much that he willingly surrenders to the need for this sacrifice. A God who, having risen from a cruel death and the knowledge of the betrayal by his friends, still cannot bear to be parted from us; until the Spirit....

God alive in the world but undefined by it; except in words of fire, water and air. A God that brings gifts of Grace and Wisdom. A God that gets in your hair; in your lungs; under your skin and fills the world with Her joy and creative power. This is the God that Jesus, the storyteller, speaks to us about. God that we call the Trinity.

But wouldn’t it be as easy to believe that we were mistaken? That there isn’t just one God; that we belong to a Family of God – a mother, father and child God; it was certainly easier for the early civilisations to do this – to create even more gods to rule the elements, the hills, the trees and the waters.

Yet Jesus states clearly ‘the Father and I are One,’ that the Spirit comes through him. That the Trinity is One God; and the One God needs to be Triune. Because the One God is all about Love.Imagine God with a single face. Where would Love have come from? Self-love is dangerous; the alternative even worse. To create humanity out of loneliness is somewhat pathetic; to create humanity so as to love God is selfish and manipulative; and ill conceived - especially as we are not very good at it. 

Give God two faces and love becomes imaginable. The delightful memory for those who have been there – looking into the eyes of the One, the grace of knowing that you are also the One; a love that mirrors itself; basking in its perfection. Complete in themselves; a God with two faces would have had no need for us; no time to even consider creating distractions such as ourselves. God with three faces always has somewhere else to look; another image to gaze upon with wonder and awe; Love that grows and strains to find more to love. A love that is drawn from one to another in a pattern, a dance of Grace. This God is able to look at each other and say ‘this Love needs to be shared’. 

And so us, as children invited to the dance; to take our place, joyfully, in the mystery of faith. And to be glad that it is so big, so beyond us, that it must be God.

wordinthehand2013

To boldly go

Sunday Gospel	John 20:19-23

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained.’




For people who have frequented the cinema recently, an image would be in their minds of Jesus beaming into the room a la James T Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew. Rearranging the atoms and molecules that created his resurrected body would have seemed no problem at all.

If you are intending to see the film - maybe skip the next bit. Although, I don't think I am giving too much away.

In the beginning of the new Star Trek film 'Into Darkness', Kirk and co are on a mission to 'observe' a planet, home to a race of humanoid people at the very beginning of developing a culture and faith. The planet is at risk from a grumbling volcano. So, despite the rules about non-involvement with other cultures, all hands come together to rescue the planet, part of which means the 'Enterprise' rising majestically, and supernaturally, from the depths of the ocean for the whole race of 'barely invented the wheel' people to see.

Back 'home' Kirk is removed from his captaincy -not for the first time nor the last - for disobeying the Prime Directive which is meant to keep the lives of other planets at 'arms reach'. What follows is a conversation regarding rules and regulations that should make its way into many a Situation Ethics lesson in the next few months (I can't find a clip at the moment) which asks how rules made in the safety and logic of a hypothetical scenario can be applied in the raw reality of a life and death situation.  Especially when the power of life or death is very much in your hands.

This is the beginning of James Tiberius Kirk's career, although his over-confidence and his raw humanity never wanes. He has been seen; he has been chosen; he has been converted; he has been challenged. He has his people and his mission. He never learns to obey anything other than his own internal moralty (with a little influence and a lot of support from his friends)  and he never keeps anyone at arms reach. He has too much to encounter and all of Space to discover.

In the Gospel, the frontier is a lot wider; the place to be explored is 'peace'. Not the peace of the disciples, who would maybe have preferred a return to fishing; friendship and family. A peace where people didn't turn they backs; throw stones; betray a friend. A peace that rewards the worry, the work and the frustation of trying to do the right thing. A quiet space, a place of welcome.

Jesus' peace is none of these things. Jesus' peace is also a place of discovery and encounter. Jesus' peace is in the utter giving over of who he is to the Father. Jesus' peace leaves no place for fear - his most common reassurance throughout the Gospels - the desire that we need not be afraid. The mission that he passes on to us.

What does differentiate the film from the tv series is the character development of the rest of the crew. The good ship, 'Enterprise' holds a body of people each with their own place in the creative imagination.

 Our roles aren't simply as support actors either; St Paul tells us that we are not just to follow Christ but to put on Christ; to be like Christ; to be the Body of Christ. Jesus offers us the peace that paradoxically leads to the restless heart of St Augustine; searching for the resting place of God's embrace.

Jesus' 'prime directive' does not take place at arms reach. We are not to leave anyone in darkness. We are to be courageous and carelessly compassionate. The Holy Spirit empowers us to forgive. To enter into the pain and guilt of our brothers and sisters; to reconcile and restore; to bring home those who are lost.

And the retention of sins? With Jesus' peace, our eyes are opened to the ills of the world; to the greed and the exploitation. It isn't for us to look the other way; to let the world suffer and destroy itself. The Holy Spirit gives us the confidence to name the darkness so that it can hide no longer.

Occasionally, you might see James T Kirk back on his ranch, maybe the disciples took a fishing trip now and again; sometimes we find a place of retreat from the world; but that is not where we are meant to be. We are part of God's mission. In spirit and in faith, we are asked to boldly go...

Apologies to those who are not Science Fiction fans - sometimes the Gospel meets me in the strangest of places.

wordinthehand2013

Look Up

Gospel	Luke 24:46-53

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.

  ‘And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.’

  Then he took them out as far as the outskirts of Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. Now as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.

It seems then, the disciples have got the message. The Risen Lord shows them how everything had come together; how the pieces fitted and that it was all true.

In Luke’s account the disciples seem perfectly happy with this; joyful even, as they accompany the Lord on this last walk together to the outskirts of the town. Their uncertainties have been answered; they have seen, heard, touched and ate with the Resurrected Christ. They, who have known him as man, have accepted him (in some way or another) as God.

And Luke, who is very much the plain speaking Gospel writer, records this unique event with mundane simplicity. ‘he was carried up to heaven’, as though it were any normal happening; as if he had been waved off on the next caravan going east.

Where is the fanfare, the trumpet blast? Where is the wonder of the Transfiguration when the Lord became unnaturally brilliant and transformed or even his Baptism with the visitation of the Father and Holy Spirit.

Perhaps, there is no need to impress anyone now. Perhaps it was necessary that his going was as simple as going home; to reassure his friends that they would have a home there too.

Christ is the Pathfinder; a journey from Divinity into humanity; through life; through suffering and death; through Hell and into a new life that is Divine. A path that was grown over, gated and guarded and now revealed. Through him, with him and in him, the journey home is signposted and the door is as wide open as the sky above.

wordinthehand2013

Peace, perfect Peace

Sunday Gospel	John 14:23-29

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him and make our home with him.

Those who do not love me do not keep my words.

And my word is not my own:

it is the word of the one who sent me.

I have said these things to you while still with you;

but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything

and remind you of all I have said to you.

Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you,

a peace the world cannot give,

this is my gift to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me say: I am going away, and shall return.

If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father,

for the Father is greater than I.

I have told you this now before it happens,

so that when it does happen you may believe.’

John reminds us again of what a great vision we can have in hindsight. In the joy and revelation of the Resurrection it must have been easy to sit around the campfire or the table of hospitality and let themselves be reminded of all those conversations with Jesus that had made no sense at all. 

Here we are introduced to the idea of God as Trinity. In one breath Jesus speaks of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a Union that give Christians a deep assuredness of God’s presence in all of their lives. For the Jewish disciples, committed to a belief in one God, this seems the opposite of everything they were taught to believe in. No wonder it had made no sense; that Jesus regarded God as intimately as a son would love a human father was enough of a challenge. And now, the Holy Spirit – sent from both the Father and the Son to be our guardian and guide.  

God fusses over us, as Jesus reminds us, like a hen with her chicks. So much so, that even with the tragic foreboding of the end of Jesus'  earthly life, it is the spiritual wellbeing of his friends and his followers that concerns him most. Since he drew them to his side they have belonged to him; the nearness of his death elevates his sense of responsbility to that of a parent and child.  He has only just promised that he will not leave us orphans. His desire to always be among us in the everyday and the everywhere can only be fulfilled by the gift of the Holy Spirit; the Paraclete - the One who walks Beside - an eternal companion offering unconditional love, wisdom and guidance. 

Everything that Jesus has, he gives to us.

As Christians, we call on this wraparound of God’s presence with every Sign of the Cross. A Unity and a Tri-unity of loving invitation and promise.   Our lives will be anything but easy if we leave the world's claim on us and try to follow our brother Jesus as servants of compassion. The peace he offers us is not one of avoidance or retreat; it is the peace of living in God's light. Walking in Jesus' footsteps, we can rest in the holding of the Father embrace and  the watchfulness of the Holy Spirit. A peace that assures all of us that we too are part of this Family of Love.

wordinthehand2013

A new commandment

Gospel	John 13:31-33,34-35

When Judas had gone Jesus said:

‘Now has the Son of Man been glorified,

and in him God has been glorified.

If God has been glorified in him,

God will in turn glorify him in himself,

and will glorify him very soon.

‘My little children,

I shall not be with you much longer.

You will look for me,

And, as I told the Jews,

where I am going, you cannot come.

I give you a new commandment:

love one another;

just as I have loved you,

you also must love one another.

By this love you have for one another,

everyone will know that you are my disciples.’

Now, in hindsight, Jesus' farewell at the Last Supper is seen as prophecy; as a warning; as a promise. How had they not known?

Jesus had certainly known; with his acceptance of Judas' betrayal he has set the last wheels in motion towards the fulfillment of God's Will. 

Over the weekend I have been in several conversations about whether Jesus was bound to die. There are many changes in circumstances that fill the could have/should have of how it could have been avoided. 

In the end it comes down to the same choice of 'Yes' or 'No' that Mary had, that Joseph had, that Judas had and that, now, Jesus has. Just outside the city walls is the road that leads back to the Galillee; dozens of villages and towns where he could play the prophet, the carpenter or the fisherman. There is nothing to stop Jesus from running and yet he doesn't run. Jesus is challenged not only by the great temptations of the desert and the garden but by these simple choices of stay or go. 

For Jesus, the deciding factor is his Father's Will. Knowing that he is walking the path, as horrible as it may be, that will bring his children and his Father back together, he rejoices in what it will accomplish. Jesus is the Light at the end of the tunnel and he glories in the knowledge that he will be there when the darkness breaks. 

Yet such choices bring regrets and separation. With a word, Jesus steps up into a different relationship with his disciples; his children; his beloved. The separation will be hard but it will not be forever. To remember Jesus; to re-member Jesus; they must take the heart of who Jesus is and live it in their own lives so that their life - becomes Jesus' life - becomes the Father's Will. 

All the denials, sufferings and separations will only be justified if, at the end, there is Love. There are no words to justify or explain what Jesus does for us except Love. There is no way that we can be part of the realisation of Jesus' mission except to Love.

To Love

To throw a quote back at you, Lord

You do not know what you ask…

To love one another 

as you love

and to make it sound so simple 

–one law; 

one commandment.

But Love, Lord?

Truly,

I don’t even know how you love me.

And yet you say the Word

And I am healed.

So the least I can do

Is try.

wordinthehand2013

A life's work

Gospel	John 10:27-30

Jesus said:

‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice;

I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life;

they will never be lost

and no one will ever steal them from me.

The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone,

and no one can steal from the Father.

The Father and I are one.’

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the first image that Christians proclaimed. Around the 3rd Century there are many artist’s impression of Jesus as a young man with a sheep held safely on his shoulders.

From our earliest years the pastoral style of the Children’s Bible illustration has given us this lovely, warm image; an image of comfort and protection; the gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

Except that now we know, that the shepherd is not who we used to think he was.

Shepherds in the time of Jesus were hard, itinerant men with little regards for polite society. The hills were wild places, living in them meant you had to have a certain wildness yourself; there were few places to safely lay your head and the ability to survive did not mean living by the rules but knowing how to go around them; to become a law unto himself.

So, what would be a good shepherd? Certainly not one that had gone over to a genteel way of life.

In the wilderness there is no delegation, nor deciding that the job is not for you. It is all on you. Months at a time when you have a flock to protect from wolves, wild dogs, thieves and other shepherds; when you have to provide that flock with food, water, shelter; when you have to know the lie of the land and the cost of safe passage. Experience builds a good shepherd from one who has been there, done that, walked that, fought that and suffered that.

He has to give the best of care for the least of his flock and he has to have put them first over and over again, so that they are safely delivered to his Lord’s enclosure.

       This is an image of a fierce man; but you will not get sheep to obey through fear. A fat, healthy sheep depends on being part of a flock; of feeling safe; of being cared for.

So there is another side to the shepherd – the mother - who imprints his voice, his smell on the young lambs by being there at the birth, by carrying them around with him. He lives in and among them; knowing them intimately. As we wish to be known. All we have to do is to listen to his voice. There is a tale that if a lamb is very wayward, a bit too much of a risk-taker then the shepherd will snap a small bone in the leg – meaning that he has to carry the lamb around – it has to learn, the hard way to rely only on him.

But that still doesn’t stop us going astray as sheep will get lost. And that is where the Good Shepherd who seeks out the lost. Who puts those woolly headed beasts, who all look alike, ahead of his own safety.

When I was younger, I remember finding a sheep on the Great Orme, stuck upside down in a ditch wrapped in barbed wire, its heavy fleece soaked with rainwater. Heaven knows how long it had been there. The hills of Wales are as wild as any Palestinian range in their way but we just don’t have that sort of shepherd any more.

Impulsively, I climbed into the ditch and started to pull the wire away, ripping my own hands open, the sheep turned and twisted until it could feel it was free, then jack-knifed itself out of my hands, kicking back and sending me flying 200 feet down the Orme; the scree stones ripped the rest of my skin off before I was able to stop. 

        For the sake of one sheep – that will never know what it nearly cost me and wouldn’t even know the meaning of gratitude.

        I nearly died that day and still remember it every time this Gospel comes around. A stupid sheep – an even stupider me; but only one sheep and only the once. 

        But for me it serves as a reminder that Jesus takes that risk; makes that sacrifice and more; every minute of every day.

wordinthehand2013

One hundred and Fifty Three

Gospel	John 21:1-19

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

  It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’ At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

  As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

  After the meal Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?’ He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Look after my sheep.’ Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.

‘I tell you most solemnly,

when you were young

you put on your own belt

and walked where you liked;

but when you grow old

you will stretch out your hands,

and somebody else will put a belt round you

and take you where you would rather not go.’

In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, ‘Follow me.’

Given the Judaic practice of using  mystical numbers to underpin story I have spent time in other years trying to work out what was so meaningful about one hundred and fifty three fish. This year I think I may have it - there is nothing meaningful about them - the meaningful part is the need to count them. 

I don't know why but I had always assumed that Peter jumped into the water to get to Jesus first but this is not suggested at all. In fact Simon Peter is acting very much as I do when I am experiencing a feeling that he may well be feeling.  

In John there are ways of 'seeing' from the superficial to the deep insights; grace-filled or transitory. The beloved disciple, being innocent and loyal sees ' knows' the Lord even at this distance. Simon Peter, feels Jesus' eyes on him and feels ashamed; he knows he is forever guilty of denying Jesus at the trial; he is not reconciled to what he has done. 

This big, strong man was Jesus' best friend yet look at what he did, couldn't save him; wasn't even at the foot of the cross. What must Jesus think of him? So, like Adam in the garden, he grabs his clothes and hides away; going into the water; into his element, so as not to deal with the excitement of the others; knowing that his joy is tempered by another emotion - shame. 

When the rest of the disciples finally come ashore, Simon Peter goes back onto his boat; the one place where he is still in charge, lets the other disciples disembark and takes over all responsibility for the catch -this is what he is good at; this where he can prove himself. 

Eventually, however, he must come onto dry land nearer and nearer to his friend and Lord, but there is still an opportunity to procrastinate - 'let's count the fish'. Like tidying the cutlery drawer, putting all the books on the bookshelves into alphabetical order or sorting out the recycling - anything; anything other than look his friend in the eye and deal with what has gone before; however long it takes to count to one hundred and fifty three. 

And at the end how foolish he must have felt? As doubtful as Thomas he needed to hear the words, to see the look in Jesus' eye. 

What was it that he had been avoiding? A warm and ready welcome; generous hospitality; an invitation to be fed. A friendship to be re-named. No accusation; no exclusion; no judgment - but too hard to believe?

He who takes away the sins of the world begins as he means to go on - it is us who find it hard to believe.

wordinthehand2013