All Saints' Community Blog, Rockhampton

Confirmation Affirmation

2010-12-09T21:28:00.000+10:00

This weekend eight people will be Confirmed by Bishop Godfrey at a service on Sunday evening starting at 7pm. On Friday, January 7th 2011, a further six people will be Confirmed. In preparing for Confirmation each candidate has had to reflect on who, or what, they think God is; Appreciate that the wisdom writing of our faith was first written in Hebrew and Greek before being translated into English; explore what is known about Jesus and think about what they believe; think about what is meant by the term 'Holy Spirit'; reflect on what prayer is, read the prayers of others, and write their own prayer; and discuss the promises that are made in Confirmation.

There will be no exam - although each candidate is writing a letter to the Bishop to explain why they want to be Confirmed! One person said that they wanted to be Confirmed so that she could think of herself as a full member of the Anglican Church. Another said that it was difficult to put into words but seemed the right thing to do at this stage of life and faith journey.

For those of us who have been Baptised and Confirmed for a long time there is the opportunity to reflect upon and possibly renew our vows: I turn to Christ; I repent of my sins; I reject selfish living and all that is false and unjust; I renounce evil.

With a few more weeks I would have encouraged the Confirmation Candidates to read the main Creeds of faith written by others and then encouraged them to write their own. But saying 'I believe' is only part of the story? The step after this would surely be to work with the Candidates to write some personal Covenants. Maybe some post-Confirmation study is in order?

Here is a confirmation affirmation we are using as a focus this week:

The Cross – we shall take it!
The Bread – we shall break it!
The Pain – we shall bear it!
The Joy – we shall share it!
The Love – we shall give it!
The Light – we shall show it!
The Darkness – we shall defeat it!
The Gospel – we shall live it!
The Kingdom – we shall build it!

Amen

Some thoughts about prayer

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000+10:00

In some ways when we think about and engage in prayer we gather the threads of what we’ve spoken about over previous weeks. For in the wisdom writing of our faith we read about God as a loving creator, divinely present in the Palestinian man Jesus, and yet we believe that God’s Spirit is somehow present in the midst of all creation… and particularly in the midst of each human life. In prayer we engage with that Spirit of God… in words and thoughts; in music and dance; in movement and stillness; in breathing and silence.

What is prayer?
I think prayer can be helpfully thought of as humanity seeking communion with God. Quite often people think of prayer as communication with God and as in human communication this finds expression in both talking (words), and listening (silence). Usually we are better at talking than listening, and if our talking is a long list of things that we want for ourselves we may sometimes come close to thinking of God as a giant Santa in the sky… ‘Please help me… get well again! …win the Lotto! …finish my assignment! …get this job! etc’.

Praying, ‘Thank You!’ - I think it is quite easy to pray ‘help me’ when things seem to be going wrong, but it is harder to pray ‘thank you’ when things are going well. Yet learning to pray ‘thank you’ is a very important focus for it can develop within us a sense of gratitude and wonder and this can diminish an over emphasis on our own ‘needs’… making it more likely that we recognise the needs of others. We can say ‘thank you’ …for our lives, for each breath and heartbeat, for people to share love with, for health, for places to call home, for money in the bank, for meaningful work, for a beautiful song, for rain… what are ten things that you could say ‘thank you’ for at this time? I think praying ‘thank you’ can also develop into words of praise to God which say ‘I love you’ and ‘You are awesome!’

Praying, ‘Sorry’ - In the midst of human living we inevitably fall short of our ideals sometimes: we hurt people in the things we say and do, and sometimes in the things we don’t say or do. It is no accident then that our church services usually have a time to say ‘sorry’ in the words of a confession …and then have an assurance of God’s forgiveness in the words of an absolution. Just ask any couple and you’ll find that learning to say ‘sorry’ is really important in human relationships, and we can take that insight into our relationship with God. If we’re honest we could probably recognise when we’ve broken one or several of the Old Testament Ten Commandments, or the New Testament mandate to love God, love neighbour, and love ourselves. When have you forgiven someone, or been forgiven, and what difference did that make? In many PNG languages there is no word for sorry because the belief is that you cannot just SAY ‘sorry’… in those cultures you have to DO ‘sorry’ for it to have meaning. There is much helpful for us to think about in the way our culture uses the word ‘sorry’ rather than encouraging it in action.

Praying for, ‘Blessing’ – over the years I have found it helpful to simply pray for God’s blessing on the lives of people and on situations of brokenness. We can pray for blessing (wholeness) in the life of someone who is well, someone who is sick, communities like Woorabinda, and people in need that we hear about on the news… like the peoples of South and North Korea at this time of possible war. Try praying ‘blessing’ for one week on the lives of people you know, and on some situations of brokenness in our world that particularly move you.

Praying for, ‘personal need’ – of course we can ask God for help in the things that are going on in our own lives – but if we start with thanks then this area of prayer will become shorter and more focused!

Inevitably we are probably most comfortable with words and less comfortable with silence and yet silence is a really important part of prayer. If we want to receive guidance or gain insight then quiet time in which we can be open and reflect on things is important. Good posture and deep slow breathing are helpful ways to start for as we breathe deeply and slowly our heart rate slows down, and our minds have the opportunity to slow down… and there is simply space in which to be.

Contemplative prayer involves a lot of that quiet space and has sometimes been likened to ‘tuning in to the frequency of God’… and by another writer, ‘breathing in time with the universe!’

Patterns of Prayer
On Sunday night we took time to look up each of these pieces of writing in the Bible because they each have some good insights into prayer:

1Kings 19:8-13 – The prophet Elijah was running away from Ahab and Jezebel and was led by the Spirit of God to a cave on a high mountain. There was an earthquake, wind and fire but Elijah did not hear God in any of this but instead heard God giving him guidance in the silence that came after.

Matthew 4:1-21 – After being baptized Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit and is led into the wilderness for a time of temptation and reflection. After this time out Jesus begins his ministry.

Luke 6:12; Luke 9:28-29; Mark 14:32-36 – Jesus prays before choosing his disciples, in the midst of ministry he is praying with friends and they see him in a new light; in the hours before he is put on trial and crucified Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemene

Matthew 6:7-15 – the very well known Lord’s Prayer. We asked ourselves on Sunday night: what do we mean when we pray, ‘Your Kingdom come…?’

Over two thousand years there have been many prayers written and some of these can help shape our own spirituality and give us words to offer God when we find ourselves unable to offer our own. One prayer I have found particularly helpful is known as the ‘Prayer of St Francis’ and I encourage you to say this prayerfully at least once each day this week.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

The homework this week is simply for each person preparing for Confirmation to write a prayer using their own words. Each prayer will be read by the writer as part of the closing prayer session next Sunday night. God’s blessing on your week – wherever this finds you!

Spirit of God

2010-11-26T12:59:00.000+10:00

In the wisdom writing of our faith there seems to be a progression of understanding about, and experience of, God’s Spirit. In one of the creation stories found in Genesis the Jewish writers suggest that in the beginning, before anything else was created, the ‘ruach’ of God moved over the waters. This Hebrew word ‘ruach’ is sometimes translated into English as a ‘wind from God’, and sometimes the ‘Spirit of God’. I think both ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’ of God are helpful terms to have in our mind as we look at God’s Spirit expressed in Old and New Testament writing.

Old Testament
In Genesis the ruach of God is powerful and creative, giving order to chaos and breathing life into an imagined first man and woman(Genesis 1:2 / 2:7). In the Old Testament the Spirit of God seemed to be given to certain individuals to enable them to do great and strange things. It enabled David to triumph against Goliath, and the Philistine army (1Samuel 17:40-51), but also led him to dance almost naked through the streets of Jerusalem (2Samuel 6:14-16). God’s Spirit gave enormous strength to Samson who in one day is said to have killed 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey! (Judges 15:14-17).

God’s Spirit enabled Moses to challenge Pharoah and lead the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt to a promised land (Exodus). Many of the prophets of the Old Testament were repeatedly called by God’s Spirit to challenge the injustice and unfaithfulness of Jewish Kings and the Jewish community: Nathan challenged David (2Samuel 12:1-13); Elijah challenged Ahab (1Kings 18:20-46); Jonah challenged the people of Ninevah (Jonah 3:1-10); Micah suggested to his community that the most important thing that God wanted was not animal sacrifice… but a way of life (Micah 6:8). There are more fantastic prophets to read about in the Old Testament and these include Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Amos and Hosea…

New Testament
The earliest documents written in the New Testament are the letters of Paul ‘though sometimes it is easy to forget this because the Gospels are at the front of the NT and are usually given greater emphasis in worship. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians we read about the Holy Spirit giving different gifts to different people (1Corinthians), and that the most important gift is love (1Corinthians 13). Then in the letter to the Galatians it is suggested that though different people have different gifts all people are to grow in the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generousity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23).

When Peter visited non-Jewish people in Joppa the Holy Spirit came upon those who believed in Jesus before they were baptized with water (Acts 10:44-48), and when Paul visited believers in Corinth they received the Holy Spirit after they had been baptized with water (Acts 19:1-7).

In many ways John the Baptist stands in the Old Testament tradition of being anointed by God’s Spirit to challenge the people of his time to repent from sinful living and start living in a way that honoured God (Mark 1:4-8). Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah when he stated, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’ (Luke 418-19). Now that is a powerful mandate!

But in the Gospels Jesus also promised to send the Holy Spirit on ALL believers not just the chosen few (John 14:25-27) and this is a really significant shift in experience. The experience of the Holy Spirit coming as wind and fire on the day of Pentecost was not just for Peter and John… it was for all of those gathered in the house (Acts 2:4).

Over the last two thousand years of church history there have been times when church authorities have forgotten that the Holy Spirit is for all people who believe in Jesus… but happily the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the breath of God, however we want to name it… simply is.

There is another aspect to Spirit that is important to name and that is mystery. As human beings we use words to name our world and communicate with one another. Inevitably we also use words to name our experiences of God and communicate with God but there is so much we do not understand and cannot express adequately. For example I could go with a group of friends and listen to a beautiful piece of music played by an orchestra and afterwards find that each of us experienced the performance differently. I’d suggest that God’s Spirit is like the most beautiful piece of music we can hear…

In humanity’s experience of God’s Spirit many people have used words to express thoughts and feelings while others find words inadequate and prefer silence. In silence and stillness there can be an astonishing sense of the presence of God (1Kings 19:11-13), and that awareness can be extended into everyday living. Paul expressed this well to the Greeks when he said, ‘In Christ I live and move and have my being’ (Acts 17:28).

In our church community we have a number of people who have been gifted by God as artists. Two years ago I asked one of them to work on a large mural panel titled ‘Spirit’. To help prepare for this work we asked each congregation to write down words and symbols that they associated with Holy Spirit and people responded with the following rich collection of words:

“Love, energy, power, joy, patience, peace, breath, goodness, self-control, humility, wholeness, flame, guide, reconciliation, gifts, prayer, hope, mystery, life.”

The panel was on display inside the church when it was completed but is now mounted on a wall in the church breezeway. The background is red and this is the Church’s traditional colour for the flames of Pentecost. The traditional Spirit image on the panel, flying amidst all the words, is a dove, and the contemporary image is of four electrons orbiting a nucleus within an atom. At the time one study group had done some work based on Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal. This insight from sub-atomic physics suggests that electrons do not orbit around a nucleus in the way that planets orbit the sun but are rather everywhere and nowhere at the same time! There is mystery here that informs and inspires… and puzzles… and just is.

In conclusion I want to affirm that I believe God’s Spirit creates and gives energy for life. That God’s Spirit is for all people and in all people. That all people are gifted differently and most are called to share those gifts in community / relationship with others. That in God’s Spirit there is mystery, energy, hope, and a call to relationship.

Looking back at your life have there been particular times when you have had a sense of the presence of God? When and where have they been?

In what ways do you think that God has gifted you? What do you love doing? What do other people say that you’re good at?

The nine fruit of the spirit described in the letter to the Galatians are really to do with character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generousity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). What particular fruit would you like God’s Spirit to develop in you at this time of your life?

I look forward to hearing from you either by email: v.cameron65@optusnet.com.au or blog: allsaintsrocky.blogspot.com

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven;
May your sacred name echo through the universe,
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world,
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings,
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us,
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.

Jesus of Nazareth..? Jesus the Christ..?

2010-11-19T23:36:00.000+10:00

Jesus is probably the central figure of Christian belief. We believe that two thousand years ago a man called Jesus, who had an extraordinary relationship with God, challenged the religion of his time and culture to broaden their understanding of God’s love. He was killed… but many individuals and communities since that time have had a deep sense of his presence and spirit. So the Jesus we are thinking about this week is considered by many to be not only a historical figure of the past, but a spiritual reality who transcends time.

There are many books that have been written about Jesus and each offer different perspectives and emphasis. In the notes last week we recognised that even the four Gospels reflect a developing sense of wonder among early Christian communities about who this man was and what he did.

Unpacking ‘the story’ of Jesus according to St Luke
The ‘homework’ last week was to read the Gospel of Luke so the group that met last Sunday evening worked together and outlined on a whiteboard the story of Jesus’ life according to Luke. We started with the extraordinary story of John the Baptist’s mum getting pregnant with an angel telling Zechariah that his barren wife would become pregnant with a son who would be called John. Then we continued the much more extraordinary story of Jesus’ Mum getting pregnant with the archangel Gabriel visiting Mary to say that God would make her pregnant with a son and he was to be called Jesus… and he would be a king. Amazingly… Mary accepted!

Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem and it was here that Jesus was born in a place where animals were kept. A great crowd of angels went to tell some shepherds what had happened and the shepherds went to visit. Like all good Jewish boys Jesus was then circumcised and named. Then in the temple the baby Jesus was acknowledged as someone special by a wise man called Simeon and a wise woman called Anna.

Twelve years went by and Joseph and Mary took the boy Jesus from Nazareth to the Temple in Jerusalem where he again made a big impression. A further eighteen years went by before Jesus decided to get baptized by John the Baptist. At the baptism Jesus was described as hearing a voice from heaven saying ‘You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.’ Jesus then went to the wilderness for a time of reflection and temptation before starting an extraordinary three years of teaching, and healing. He called some disciples and taught them, healed many people who were sick, and reassured people who had been rejected by the Jewish religion that God loved them as well!

After three years of ministry Jesus had quite a following and many of people believed that he was the Messiah – a leader who would make Israel great again, that Jewish prophets had promised for centuries. According to each of the Gospel writers the crowds in Jerusalem went wild when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey which was the same kind of animal that Israel’s greatest king, David, had ridden whenever he returned to Jerusalem in peace. As the crowds went wild there was possibly an expectation that Jesus would go to Pontius Pilate the Roman administrator and tell him to pack his bags?

However, Jesus didn’t go and see Pilate he went, like all good Jewish men going to Jerusalem to celebrate a religious festival, to the Temple. At the Temple he became so angry at the lack of reverence for God he drove out the business people and the animals being sold for at massively inflated prices. To justify his action he shouted to the authorities that the Temple was supposed to be a place of prayer… but they had turned it into a market place. It would seem that this action was a turning point in his relationship with the Jewish religious authorities who subsequently arranged for him to be killed.

Jesus is described washing the feet of his disciples and reinterpreting the traditional bread and wine symbols used in the Jewish Passover. From that time on bread and wine shared at a special meal have helped Christians remember Jesus. Jesus was then betrayed by Judas, arrested, condemned to death, crucified and buried in a tomb. Three days later Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and on the road to Emmaus, before ascending to heaven.

Looking at some parables
One of the ways that Jesus taught was using stories that had special meaning. These stories are called parables and they are particularly effective teaching tools because stories are easier to remember than statements. Luke’s Gospel has some important parables and last Sunday evening we looked at two of them. In the parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) there is the powerful affirmation that according to Jesus no matter what you’ve done, and no matter where you go, God never stops loving you. This would have been challenging and even offensive to the Jewish belief of that time which taught that God’s approval was conditional on keeping the rules of the Jewish religion. Then in the parable known as The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) Jesus suggests that anyone who has need can be considered your neighbour – particularly if you have the capacity to respond to that need.

Looking at some encounters with Jesus
Jesus was clearly someone who walked the talk, or practiced what he preached! He did not say love those people who are on the edge of society… and then ignore them in day to day living. Time and again we read in the Gospel of Luke of Jesus meeting people who the Jewish religious authorities had written off and these included tax collectors and lepers.

• It is important to remember that Jesus lived in a land occupied by the Roman army. Tax collectors were local people appointed by the Roman to collect money from their own people but tax collectors were not regulated so could set their own levy on top of the tax… which they kept. Consequently they were regarded as collaborators and excluded from Jewish community activities. So when Jesus invited himself for dinner at the house of a tax collector called Zachaeus not surprisingly people complained (Luke 19:2-10). Yet for Zachaeus this willingness to share time together was clearly life giving. Zachaeus promised to repay what he’d stolen and give half of his possessions to the poor.

• Lepers were excluded from community life and were forced to live outside the walls of towns and villages in caves and shelters. This was largely because Jewish people thought that the leprosy was God’s judgement on those people for something that they’d done. Remember there was no understanding of bacteria and virus’ in that time. Jesus met with lepers, talked with lepers, and brought about healing for lepers (Luke 17:12-19) which was a radically inclusive thing.

Looking at some teaching
By the time of Jesus the Jewish religion had unpacked the ten commandments into 613 rules/laws. When Jesus was challenged to name which of these was the most important he suggested that we are to love God with all that we are and love our neighbours as ourself (Luke 10:25-38; Mark 12:28-34; Matthew 22:34-40). Because there are many people in our time who don’t like or love themselves I think it’s possible to summarise by thinking we are to love God, love our neighbour, and love ourselves.

Some of the names of Jesus
Jesus is called many names and each name has a different implication: ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, ‘Son of Man’, ‘Son of God’, ‘Jesus the Christ’… ‘Christ’. Which of these names resonate with you?

As well as the names we have seven clear metaphors in John’s Gospel which are described as the ‘I am’ sayings: I am the bread of life (John 6:35); I am the light of the world (John 8:12); I am the gate (John 10:9); I am the good shepherd (John 10:11); I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25); I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6); I am the true vine (John 15:1). At different times of our life one metaphor may make more sense to us then the others. I particularly like the metaphor of ‘light’ because when it light I can find my way around. Which metaphor connects with you at this time?

Some visual Images of Jesus
Last Sunday evening we looked at some different t pictures of Jesus and these included a blond haired, blue eyed Jesus wearing a crown and the robes of a Bishop, a laughing Palestinian man, and a South American sculpture of a man screaming in agony on a cross. We passed around a European carving of Jesus on a cross, and a Papua New Guinean carving of Jesus on a cross. In Christian art around the world Jesus has been pictured as an African, a European, a Chinese, an Indian, an Indonesian… and in some ways it can be helpful to think of this Christ figure as an ‘everyman’… providing we do not forget that the original Jesus was most likely a Jewish man who spoke Aramaic and Hebrew, and lived in an occupied Roman territory known as Palestine.

How would you describe Jesus?
At the end of last week’s session I asked people to describe what Jesus meant to them in one or two words. The responses included: friend, healer, teacher, forgiver, kind, accepting, guide, redeemer, hope giver, source of energy. What word or words would you use to describe Jesus?

Wisdom writing..? Word of God..?

2010-11-08T21:19:00.000+10:00

The Confirmation group that met last Sunday evening looked at the wisdom writing of the Jewish faith known as ‘The Torah’ and affirmed that it was originally written in Hebrew. We looked at the Hebrew alphabet and recognised that it is a very different language to English! We agreed that the five books of ‘The Torah’ (The teaching) form the first five books of the Christian Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Biblical scholars believe that these five books were written between 950 and 450 BCE.

We then looked at the wisdom writing of the Christian faith and affirmed that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Koine Greek. We looked at the Greek alphabet and recognised that it is also a very different language to English. When we compared the amount of written material between the Old and New Testaments it was clear that about two thirds of the Christian Bible is made up of the Old Testament (Hebrew writing).

Last week we had affirmed that Jews and Christians look to an ancient common ancestor called Abraham through his wife Sarah, and their son Jacob. We also affirmed that Muslims looked to Abraham as their ancestor through his wife’s servant Hagar, and their son Esau. The wisdom writing of the Muslim faith is called ‘The Koran’ and was written by the Prophet Mohammed in Arabic. We looked at the Arabic alphabet and affirmed that it is also a very different language to English!

The purpose of looking at the different languages was to remind us that the wisdom writings of our faith, and the other monotheistic faiths, was written by people who lived in cultures very different to our own. In order to read them in our language a scholar must translate them into English and to make things, clear put their own understanding of things in the translation.

Bearing this all too human translation process in mind, is it right to call the writing of the Bible ‘The Word of God’ or should it be thought of as a ‘Library of Wisdom’ that has many different styles of writing gathered together?

Personally, I think the term ‘Word of God’ is unhelpful because it infers that people for about one thousand years ran around with an ancient form of dictaphone recording things as they were said! The term ‘Word of God’ also infers that since the words come from an Almighty God it would be inappropriate to question them… or question the religious institutions that use them. I would probably take one step further and suggest that to call this collection of writing ‘The Word of God’ unhelpfully borders on idolatry. What do you think?

I think the term ‘Library of Wisdom’ is more helpful because it gives permission to bring critical thinking to the interpretation of the writing within it. There is no doubt in my mind that God can challenge, guide, inspire, and ‘speak’ to us through this writing… but I do not think the collection has a single message for all of humanity… from a divine author in the sky.

When thinking about a particular piece of Biblical writing it is helpful to think about the context in which it was written? Who wrote it? And who was it written for? What was going on in that part of the world at the time? And who were the major players in that culture? Was that piece of writing intended to be a literal account of things, or is there a metaphor expressed to explain a situation… or offer hope?

Last Sunday evening we affirmed that there were different styles of writing (genres) in both the Old and New Testament and identified the following:

In the Old Testament there are:

1. Foundational Myths & Legends - stories about the origins of the world, the first generations of humans, or the early years of a nation, intended to provide a foundational world-view upon which people base their communal and individual lives (Genesis, parts of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
2. Legal Codes - collections of laws and instructions by which the people are to live (Leviticus, parts of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
3. Genealogies - lists of inter-relationships between peoples, either of successive generations or of different nations (parts of Genesis, much of Numbers)
4. History - semi-historical narrative accounts of select events in a nation's life, focusing especially upon political and military exploits of its leaders, since usually written under royal sponsorship (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, etc.)
5. Prophetic Books - collections of the oracles or words of God spoken to the people through human intermediaries (prophets) and the symbolic actions they perform at God's direction for the people's benefit (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah etc.)
6. Psalms/Odes/Songs - poetic lyrics of songs/hymns intended for communal worship and/or individual prayer (Psalms)
7. Prayers/Laments - words addressed by people to God, esp. reflecting situations of crisis or lament (Lamentations)
8. Proverbs - generalized sayings and aphorisms containing advice on how to live well: "do good and avoid evil" (Proverbs)
9. Wisdom Literature - various types of inspirational stories that encourage people to live wisely (Job, Wisdom, etc.)
10. Apocalypses - symbolic narratives that suggests how God will resolve issues of brokenness and injustice through future interventions (Daniel)

and in the New Testament there are:
1. Gospels - proclamations of the "good news" about Jesus intended to establish and/or strengthen people's faith in him; quasi-biographical, semi-historical portraits of the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus (Mark, Matt, Luke, John)
2. Acts - a partial narrative account about the beginnings and the growth of early Christianity; not a complete history of the early Church, since it focuses only on the actions of a few missionary leaders (Acts)
3. Letters - real letters addressing practical and theological issues relevant to particular communities (especially Paul's)
4. Apocalypse - a symbolic narrative that suggests how God will resolve the issues of brokenness and injustice at the end of time (Revelation)

Jesus focus in the Gospels:
Inevitably it is in the Gospels of the New Testament that we find stories that describe the life of Jesus. Last Sunday we took some time to read aloud the first chapter of each Gospel to see how the story of where Jesus came from seemed to grow as time went by. Mark’s Gospel was apparently written about forty years after Jesus lived on earth. This Gospel begins with Jesus as an adult man being baptized by John the Baptist. In Mark’s account of this Baptism the heavens open and a voice is heard from heaven saying, ‘This is my son, my chosen one!’ In Mark’s Gospel – and in the letters of Paul written before it – there is no Mary, or Joseph, or stable, or shepherds, or anels, or Magi. The relationship between God and Jesus is, according to Mark’s Gospel, affirmed in his baptism.

It is in Matthew’s Gospel, written about fifty years after Jesus lived on earth, that we meet for the first time Mary, Joseph and the Magi. Then in Luke’s Gospel, written about five years after Matthew, that we read about the angel Gabriel visiting Mary in person, visiting Joseph in a dream, the birth in a stable, angels singing to shepherds, and shepherds coming to worship. By combining the different stories of Matthew and Luke we see the composite whole that script Nativity plays and Christmas cards.

Yet by the time we get to John’s Gospel those Christmas elements have all gone. In John’s Gospel, written at least sixty years after the life of Jesus, there are no angels or shepherds, or Mary. In John’s Gospel it is affirmed that Jesus was so awesome – so related to God – that he was present with God right at the beginning of the world, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1).

For the communities that followed the teaching of Jesus after he died there was clearly a growing sense that he was not just human… he was divine.

We will focus particularly on Jesus who became the Christ in next week’s session. To prepare for that session please read through the Gospel of Luke by next Sunday. If you do not have a Bible – please buy or borrow one – or look at Luke’s Gospel on-line.

I look forward to hearing from you either by email: v.cameron65@optusnet.com.au or blog: allsaintsrocky.blogspot.com

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven;
May your sacred name echo through the universe,
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world,
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings,
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us,
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.

Who, or what... is God?

2010-11-02T16:02:00.002+10:00

As we begin our preparation for Confirmation it seems appropriate to ask the question, ‘Who, or what… is God?’ Initial responses to that question from the group that met last Sunday night included, ‘parent figure… creator… guide/conscience… spiritual force… energy… love.’ I wonder which of these resonate with you, and what additional responses you’d like to include?

Ever since our species developed language and consciousness there appears to have been some sense of an energy which cannot be seen with the naked eye – but can be felt. Animism is probably the earliest form of religion and in this people believe that there is energy everywhere but it is particularly strong in some places – in the forest, in the bush… under a particular tree… in a particular cave etc. The energy seemed to have different characteristics so people thought that instead of a single form of energy there were different kinds – in the same way that there are different kinds of people. To name that understanding I think we’d have to move from the term ‘spiritual energy’ to the term ‘spirits’.

If you have a world view in which there are ‘spirits’ that have a powerful influence on the physical world then you’d be inclined to keep them happy, and on special occasions even ask them to do things on your behalf. If the ‘spirit’ seems to be particularly powerful then they could be thought of as a ‘god’ in a world that seems to have many spirits/gods. To keep the gods happy people thought you had to live in particular ways, give the gods food, or sacrifice an animal to the god, or in some religions even sacrifice people. By doing such things it was hoped that the relevant god would make the sun come back after winter; make the rain come back after drought; make domestic animals would bear young; make an army successful in battle; make a food garden grow plenty of food; help a woman become pregnant with a son… etc.

Polytheism is simply a way of saying ‘many gods’ and we find polytheism alive and well today in the world’s third largest religion known as Hinduism. We find other expressions of polytheism reflected in the names of ancient Egyptian Gods, and in Greek, Roman and Norse mythology.

Somewhere between 4000 and 3000 years a family somewhere in the Middle East came to the conclusion that there was only one God (monotheism) and they were called by that God to be that God’s chosen people. The family was led by a man called Abraham who felt led by God to leave his land and go to a new place. In addition Abraham believed that God promised that in time his descendents would become a great nation. We call the religion that thinks of itself as God’s chosen people – Judaism. Those who follow Judaism are called Jews and these days there are at least sixty different kinds of Judaism! Nevertheless Judaism was the first of the world’s monotheistic religions.

Interestingly the next monotheistic religion to emerge came from Judaism. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew who lived in a land we think of now as Israel. This land had been invaded by the Roman army and was administered by them as part of the Roman Empire. So the story of Abraham is important not only to Jews but also to the religion that formed around the life and teaching Jesus. We call this religion Christianity and there are again at least sixty different kinds of church within Christianity

About five hundred years later the prophet Mohammed also named Abraham as his ancestor but developed a new monotheistic religion we call Islam. People who follow Islam are called Muslims and there are again at least sixty different kinds of Islam in our world.

For the people who wrote the wisdom writing of the Jewish faith (known as the Torah), the Christian faith (known as the Bible), and the Muslim faith (known as the Koran), there was a similar three tiered understanding of the universe. In this the earth was flat; just the other side of the clouds was a place of glory and light where God and heavenly beings lived; and underneath the earth was a dark, hot, place of suffering called hell. We might smile at this understanding but when you see a shaft of sunlight coming through dark clouds it does look like there might be something wonderful going on up there. So for the ancient mind, uninformed by sending people to walk on the moon, or satellites to photograph other parts of our solar system, it is understandable that they understood the world in this way.

Indeed this three-tiered way of understanding the world has influenced humanity’s thinking about God for a long time. In the West this has found great expression in paintings by the famous Italian artist Michelangelo who lived between 1475 and 1564. Last Sunday we looked at his enormous wall painting titled ‘The Last Judgement’ which is found on the wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In this painting a muscular Jesus is depicted judging humanity at the end of time. Those who made the grade are being welcomed up into heaven, and those who failed to make the grade are being dragged down to be tortured by demons.

For all kinds of reasons I think we have a very different world view today in the 21st Century and I think this impacts on the way we imagine and name our experience of God.

I want to highlight a few people of the many people who have helped to shift this three-tiered world view:

A Catholic priest from Poland called Nicolaus COPERNICUS (1473 -1543) worked out through his study of mathematics and astronomy that the earth orbits the sun, not the other way around! That may not sound surprising but the Christian church had taught for over one thousand years that the earth was at the centre of God’s creation. Copernicus’ ideas were not welcomed by church leaders who tended to kill people that disagreed with them!

The English physicist, mathematician and theologian, Isaac Newton (1643 -1727), suggested that there were quantifiable rules that governed why things happened. Among many other things he identified and proposed three laws of motion. This shift in thinking was significant and can be understood thus: the apple did not fall on my head because I had done something to upset God, rather the apple fell on my head because gravity pulled it down to the ground after the stem broke. At the time of Jesus people thought you got sick because you’d done something wrong and upset God, whereas these days we recognise the impact that bacteria, virus’ and cancer have in making people sick.

The English biologist Charles Darwin (1809 -1882) put forward the theory that living things changed over time in order to successfully compete with other species and survive. Again the shift in thinking was very significant – instead of human beings being made in a few minutes from a piece of clay, we instead accept that we have spent millions of years changing over time in order for our species to emerge with its unique gift of consciousness.

We live in a world informed by scientific theories and research. We live in a time when there is unprecedented access to information through the internet. We take astonishing technology for granted… and think that through our medical knowledge and hospital systems we will have long lives.

In the midst of all this is there space for God?

Is God one who inspires, comforts, challenges and enables? Or is God rather an artificial construct that people fall back on like a safety blanket when things go wrong?

Who, or what is God for you? I asked the Sunday group to each draw a picture which showed God and them. Was God near or far away? Did God have a human shape – or something less clear? For each person the response was different – for one person God was far away and in the past, whereas for another God was inside their heart. For another person God was like a protective barrier, while for another God was like a fog surrounding everything. For one person God was far away and all creation was inside God, while for another all creation was in God… but God was bigger than that. One of the themes that emerged towards the end of the session was the suggestion that the purpose of God was to know fullness of life.

Unresolved questions include:
• If God is love then why is there so much suffering in the world?
• If life is God’s gift to us… what do we do with it?

If you have not drawn a picture please take five minutes to draw on an A4 piece of paper how you and God look together on the same page!

For those preparing on-line please take some time to reflect upon the highlighted questions in the text and respond to at least one of them. You could respond to the group using the blog, or you could email me directly for a private ‘conversation’ on c.venables65@optusnet.com.au

We finished our session by praying together an Alternative Lord’s Prayer that was published in the Anglican Prayer Book of New Zealand in 1989. I would like each of person in the group to try and pray this prayer aloud each day this week, and hope it is a blessing.

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven;
May your scared name echo through the universe,
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world,
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings,
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope
and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us,
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.

Ordination Reflection

2009-12-02T15:43:00.002+10:00

Last Sunday, on the 29th November 2009, our Parish Deacon was Ordained Priest. It was a wonderful occasion and I shared this message.

The Ordination of Delfina Trail – 29th November 2009
The sermon – the Reverend Canon Cameron Venables

We gather in this Cathedral as part of the Anglican Diocese of Rockhampton. This Diocese covers a huge area for if you drive West for fourteen hours you’ll come to a place called Boulia, and you’ll still be in this Diocese. At our Diocesan Synod this year we were told that we cover a land area twice the size of New Zealand – ‘though we have less sheep and more cattle! However, though we are big in geographical area – we are small in population, and our communities are scattered.

Because we are small in number we do not often have Ordinations – indeed this is only the fourth Ordination in six years. Consequently, it would have been tempting for Bishop Godfrey to take the retreat, and preach for Delfina’s Ordination. It is a blessing for us to have a spiritual leader who shares the good things as well as the difficult things, and I thank him for his generousity in giving me the opportunity to do these things.

We have gathered this night from places near and far. It is wonderful to see some of Delfina’s family and friends who have travelled from North Queensland Diocese – particularly the communities of Home Hill and Townsville. I see friends who have travelled from Brisbane Diocese, and from different parts of this Central Queensland Region. More than this, I see friends from different parts of the world. It is so good to see friends from the growing Congolese community in Rockhampton that Delfina has come to know in the last three months. It is good to see friends from Botswana, Zimbabwe, and the Sudan – for they are a visible reminder that we belong to the world-wide Body of Christ.

It is good to see friends from different Christian denominations here tonight: from the Roman Catholic church, the Baptist church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, some Pentecostal Churches and the Anglican Church.

It is good to see people of different generations here: from those who are only a few years old to those who have retired… and those who are much older than that.

Clearly there is something significant taking place tonight, and it is worth celebrating. A woman called Delfina is being Ordained a Priest. It is fantastic… what does it mean?

To help explore this question we have some story and direction from the wisdom writing of our faith.

In the Gospel of Luke we are told that Jesus, recognizing the need for help, called some people who were already busy doing something else. The ones that we heard about tonight were fishermen, and we particularly remember Andrew….

In preparing for this night I’ve read some interesting stuff about the fisherman called Andrew, who became Saint Andrew. I’ve read about his travels, the legends that have grown up around him, and even stories of his bones being moved from place to place! Because we are remembering someone who lived two thousand years ago it is hard to get a clear picture, but I offer some highlights. Andrew apparently travelled from his homeland to preach and encourage Christian communities in the countries we now know as the Ukraine, Russia, Rumania, and Turkey. He is therefore a very significant saint in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches…

Saint Andrew’s much later association with Scotland and the Celtic Church did not develop until after the Council of Whitby in the seventh century, and it becomes a bit blurred in the church politics of that time. Consequently, my mother who comes from Scotland, may need counseling when I share this news with her! Andrew remains the patron Saint of those who fish, those who sell fish, those who make rope, those who sing and those who perform.

Delfina has responded to Christ and I would suggest that her primary vocation is the same vocation for all who are baptized, including all of us. Her primary vocation, our primary vocation, is to follow Christ, and in the following become Christ-like. That is not to say we are to grow long hair and wear sandals – it is rather to say that we are live in relationship with God as he did. We are to recognize those who are excluded in the world and respond to them, and we are to live and love with generousity and creativity – as he did.

Delfina is already a Deacon, and in midst of this service will become a Priest, so it’s worth thinking about the difference between these two vocations and their roles in the life of the church. There has been much literature written about this and it appears there is no single understanding about either role. Broadly speaking the Deacons role is often understood as a serving role which forms an interface between the worshipping community and the wider community. Bishop Godfrey has sometimes referred to this as a boundary rider role. In comparison a Priest is theoretically to spend most of their time gathering the church community while equipping them to share faith with the wider community.

I think in reality the roles are not so clearly defined. Hopefully all Priests never forget that they were first called to be Deacon, and that a serving / relating with the wider community role is still part of their ministry to a greater or lesser extent. But there is something that Priests are authorized to do which Deacons are not allowed to do. A Priest can preside at the Eucharist, which is also known as Holy Communion.

In this action the Priest is able to affirm to the gathered people that God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary things of bread and wine… in the ordinary and extraordinary crucibles of human relationships… in the ordinary and extraordinary struggles for justice and peace… That God is somehow present in the ordinary and extraordinary gift of each breath, each life, and each day.

So, what do we look for in a priest, long for in a priest, and hope to find in the life and ministry of a Priest. An American Bishop who came to stay in Rockhampton a few years ago gave a profound insight to these questions. He suggested that ministry gifts and abilities are fine and have their place: pastoral gifts; administrative ability; the ability to teach and preach effectively; the ability to create worship experiences that give people a sense of God, and hope, and community; an inclination to advocate for social justice… and so the list goes on. in worship, social justice advocacy…
All these things he said were important and desirable, but, after twenty five years as a Diocesan Bishop the most important thing he looked for was a willingness and inclination to love the people and place they were sent to serve. However inadequately, however incompletely, a willingness and inclination to love the people and place they were sent to serve.

Don’t be surprised if this sounds familiar for it is not completely original! We find this same theme in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. The christian community in Corinth was a rich and complex community who were divided in an argument about which spiritual gift was most important. Paul cut to the heart of things when he wrote ‘you can have the most extraordinary gifts, but if you don’t have love they are worth nothing.’

It also resonates in the response accorded to Jesus in the Gospels which were written several decades after Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. In those Gospel encounters when Jesus was asked to identify the most important of the 613 religious rules of Judaism, he replied – ‘love God; love your neighbour; love yourself. With your heart, your mind, your soul, and strength; indeed with everything that you are: love God, love your neighbour and love yourself.’

As a priest Delfina is called to love in a very public way. Delfina already lives out her vocation to love as a wife, as a mother, and a grandmother… but as a priest her family is now bigger. The church community will look to her for love... and will look for encouragement in their journeys of living and loving.

We think Delfina is up for it, and is gifted and called by God to this new chapter of ministry – that is why we are here tonight. We give thanks to God for her willingness to say ‘Yes’ – and we pray for her…

But as we give thanks for Delfina’s willingness to say ‘Yes’, can I invite us all to reflect upon our own vocations – the different ways that we are each responding to God’s love and God’s call. Are you at peace doing what you are doing, or do you have some sense that God is calling you to do something new?

Let us pray…

A Gift from Thomas

2009-04-21T12:33:00.003+10:00

Jesus teaches us (please note the present tense), in the wisdom writing of our Christian tradition that we are to love God with our heart, with our mind, with our soul, and with our strength. I think it is a deeply reassuring direction for all of us whose world view is informed by the insights of science, and the experience of technology. Our love of God is not simply based on feelings although feelings have a part to play in our love of God and each other. We are also called to love God with our minds and our ability to reason. So I thank God for Thomas when he said, ‘I won’t believe unless I see. I won’t believe until I touch the scars and know that what you others are saying is real!’

Our minds enable us to question, and learn, and make sense of things; our minds give us the ability to be creative and communicate…

I would like to invite all who read this little column to consider some faith related questions because ‘though I thank God for Thomas I think there are some things we cannot see and would struggle to measure…

Can we see love… or do we only see what love leads people to do? Does that make love any less real?

In a world that faces seemingly overwhelming challenges what role does hope have in keeping people going? We cannot measure it or grasp it, and yet hope seems to have the power to keep people going, and transform them.

The Hebrew word ‘Shalom’, and the Arabic word ‘Salaam’, are each words of blessing which we translate into the English word ‘Peace.’ What does peace taste like? How do we work for peace and experience it as individuals and as a community?

The questions are not entirely random because love, hope and peace seem to be recurring themes in the faith journey that Jesus calls us to.

Reflecting on Resurrection

2009-04-21T12:18:00.002+10:00

The week before Easter is always an intensive time of story telling for the Christians that belong to mainline denominations.

We remembered a triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the crowds full of hope and expectation. We remembered the controversial clearing of the temple which left the crowds confused and the Jewish authorities determined to end a man’s life. We remembered this Jewish man sharing with some close friends in a festival meal. We remembered him washing their feet and reinterpreting the familiar symbols of bread and wine. We remembered how this man was betrayed and deserted by his friends. We remembered how he was tortured and killed.

We remembered the sense of loss, and fear that the friends of this man had and were quiet in that remembering.

Then into the darkness came light, a candle was lit and we began to sing songs of joy. We remembered a woman going to a tomb and finding it empty. We remembered her weeping and somehow the Jesus she had known became present to her, transformed into the Christ figure no longer limited by the boundaries of time and space.

In a literal and metaphorical way there is so much hope present in this story. Somehow in the mystery and grace of God, death need not be the end. In the mystery and grace of God, new life and new beginnings become possible. In the mystery and grace of God, no matter how great the injustice or overwhelming the darkness, the light of justice can shine. This is good news for a world all too familiar with bad news.

So, let us each live knowing that life is a gift; that new life is possible; and that unselfish love is the only thing that makes sense.

An Easter Prayer:

Holy and loving God, we thank you for the hope of resurrection in the daily nitty gritty of our earthly life. In the midst of disappointments, fears, hurts, sicknesses, and difficulties in sharing relationship, we ask for the grace to recognise and find new life. Then in the mystery of whatever happens after we die, we ask that you take care of us, in the same way that you took care of Jesus, our Christ. Amen.

Arms and Zimbabwe

2009-04-01T22:16:00.001+10:00

Each week through Lent we have an inward focus grounded in Psalm 139 verse 14 which affirms that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. To help us reflect on this statement we have a life size skeleton in the church for Lent and each week we have been thinking about the bones found in a particular part of the body. This week we remember and give thanks for the bones of, and related to, our arms: clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, meta carpals and phalanges.

Our outward focus this week is the African country we know as Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's total population is 12 million. According to the World Health Organisation, the life expectancy for men is 37 years and the life expectancy for women is 34 years of age, the lowest in the world in 2006. The HIV infection rate in Zimbabwe was estimated to be 20.1% for people aged 15–49 in 2006.

Shona, Ndebele and English are the principal languages of Zimbabwe, English being the official language. Less than 2.5%, mainly the white and mixed race minorities, consider English their native language. The rest of the population speak Shona (76%) and Ndebele (18%).

The economic meltdown and repressive political measures in Zimbabwe have led to a flood of refugees into neighbouring countries. An estimated 3.4 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population, had fled abroad by mid 2007. Some 3 million of these have gone to South Africa.

Please pray for the people of Zimbabwe.

Feedback to 'those commandments!'

2009-03-24T09:50:00.002+10:00

I have received some wonderfully creative responses to the challange of reframing the commandments so I thought I'd share some of them having received permission from the authors:

Mary wrote:
1. The Lord God is one, all embracing, all religions, all peoples, the Cosmos. He is everything that is and isn’t, therefore mystery. All we know and don’t know, therefore mystery.

2. Be creative and imaginative; write, sculpt, draw, paint, sing, compose, play an instrument, dance with joy.

3. Remember thought is matter and matter is energy. Be positive rather than negative.

4. Remember to keep every day, however spent, holy; that is, complete and worthy of the highest ideals.

5. Honour your father, mother, family and nation, all people and all species, the planet and the cosmos.

6. Seek peace. Love the unlovable as well as the lovable.

7. Sex is a gift and a necessity. Use it with love and wisdom.

8. Share what you have, be generous.

9. Be honest in all your dealings and relationships.

10. Show gratitude and be thankful.

Pam wrote:
1. Remember and acknowledge the mystery that is God within everyone and everything you know and don’t know.

2. Remember that God is beyond containment and beyond any image you have.

3. Remember to bestow your blessing on everyone and everything in your environment and to speak with kindness.

4. Remember your body is wonderfully made and treat it with respect.

5. Remember with thankfulness your parents who gave you life and reward them by being the best you are capable of.

6. Remember your responsibility to enrich and endow the lives of others.

7. Remember to honour the intimacies of marriage and family.

8. Remember the abundance of the earth and the rights of all to share in its plenty.

9. Remember to speak and act always with integrity and truthfulness.

10. Remember that greed diminishes and insults the goodness and generosity of God.

Patty wrote:
ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' Do remember that God is my best friend, always to ask for help, and to say thanks to when I find something, or just want to appreciate a beautiful day.

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' Do remember that God is complex so there isn’t any point in trying to copy him, he’s just awesome, do try to remember that He also made me, and apparently I too am awesome(I can’t make anything in my body without him, and he made me in his image, right?)

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' Do have a bit of respect for Him. Mouth wise =Zip it. *My hardest challenge!

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' Do make the time once a week to relax and reflect, and if it’s church, then be sure to take something of value spiritually away with you, and leave a little something too.

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.' Do love your parents, too easy, but also understand that as parents; they unwittingly gave me my greatest gift, of life, and they are human. Appreciate them every day, living or not.

SIX: 'You shall not murder.' Do help others, and share what you can with them, in every way. Help enrich their life, and not take away things that might disempower them. Do encourage, not criticise, do not kill ideas, or hope, or courage. Do enable people to step beyond themselves, and help them grow as a person, and they might just do the same to you. :)

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.' Do be faithful, in a loyal and loving way, both mentally and physically.

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.' Do have original ideas, and be prepared to do the hard work yourself, and not take someone’s else’s anything: thoughts, stories, plot lines, concepts.

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.' Do tell the truth, at all times. Be honest, especially with yourself, you’ll sleep better.

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.' Do celebrate and share your own possessions, and life, your home and family, and friends. There’s little point in living an envious life, it just makes you sick.

Reframing Those Commandments

2009-03-16T13:26:00.003+10:00

The first reading last Sunday morning came from the Hebrew wisdom writing known as Exodus. I think it is a very important piece of writing for it describes God giving to Moses, on the top of a mountain, the Ten Commandments. These are the ten rules for community life that the Jewish people understood God had given them at some stage in ancient history. Even though we are not Jews these commandments have still played a significant part in shaping the legal systems of the Western World, and the understanding of the Christian Church about what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that we have to take these Ten Commandments seriously, and the invitation in Lent is for us to say them as part of our community worship each Sunday.

You may be thinking if they are that important why don’t we say them each Sunday of the year? You’ll notice on other Sundays of the year we say the Great Commandments that Jesus identified when he was challenged by a lawyer described in Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:34-40, and Luke 10:25-28. At the time of Jesus the Ten Commandments had been developed into 613 laws that the Jewish religious professionals debated and made judgements about. We need to remember that Jesus lived in a world without TV or radio, without CD players and mobile phones, a world that may seem incomprehensible to some of our teenagers. In that time people talked to each other face to face and discussed and debated how to please God in the different circumstances of life. The ‘hot potato’ hypothetical at the time of Jesus between the two leading schools of Pharisees, one led by Ben Hillel, and the other Ben Shimai, was that if you saw a Samaritan drowning and you let them drown… would God judge you for it? One school said, ‘Yes!’ and the other said, ‘No!’

So when the lawyer asked Jesus which of all the Jewish rules was the most important, people would have been very interested in the response. Astonishingly, Jesus didn’t refer to any of the Ten Commandments he said – and I paraphrase, ‘Really there’s only one, and maybe another that flows on from that!’ He said, ‘Love God – with everything that you are, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.’

As I have reflected and taught about this over the years I’ve reframed the statement of Jesus into three phrases because I find so many people do not love themselves. From my work with young people and adults I would suggest that there is a chronic lack of self-esteem, a lack of self-worth, in our society. I think the reasons for this are many and complex and possibly the focus for a different sermon. But the three phrases that come from this teaching of Jesus are active and positive – Do love God! Do love others! and Do love yourself!

I think the gift that Jesus offers in transforming the Commandments, those being the rules from an honourous list of negative Do Nots’ to a threesome of positive Dos… is immense. Anyone who has worked with teenage boys would understand this!

Maybe it is a Western cultural phenomena where we encourage individualism and affirm the right of individuals to live the way they want to. Maybe it’s just a normal part of adolescent development where a young person may want all the rights without the responsibility. Whatever it is... when you tell some people they should not do something, that thing can becomes more attractive to them. The challenge for them is to somehow do that thing without being found out… or do that thing legally through some loophole in the law. I think people can often play games with the ‘Do Nots’ of legal systems.

An example that comes to my mind is the law that says ‘Do not steal’ – that seems pretty clear. But what do we call it when a company called Pacific Brands increases the pay of their CEO by 170% in the midst of a global economic crisis? Her pay last year was increased from $686,000 per year, to $1,860,000 per year. This was done at a time when the company was deciding to make 1,800 workers in Australia redundant. Last year, the thirteen Directors of Pacific Brands did not technically break the law as they more than doubled their own salaries and almost tripled the salary of their CEO. Technically they honoured the letter of the law which says ‘Do not steal’, but I would argue they have flagrantly ignored the spirit of the law which is ‘Don’t take from another person what belongs to them.’

I would suggest that the greed of these Corporate leaders has stolen from a significant number of people in Australia the opportunity to work. The opportunity to pay off their houses, educate their children, and pursue their leisure activities. I think there are gross inequalities and injustices in our world because of the legal games people play with the ‘Do Nots’ of our legal systems.

In addition I think there is another aspect to the psychology of ‘Do not’ because it is an absolute term. When I stop to reflect on the Ten Commandments I think I am compromised on each one of them. I am not simply sharing this because the Bishop is out of the country and it will be a few days before you can call him to make a complaint!

When I read ‘Do not worship anyone or anything other than God’ I recognise that I have frequently fallen short of that ideal. I have worshipped and adored my wife and my children and they are, quite rightly, central in my life.

When I read ‘Do not make idols or bow down to them’ I recognise that I have pursued my work sometimes at the expense of everything else. Sometimes to prove to others that something is possible that they thought was impossible… and in those times I made an idol of my work.

When I read ‘Do not use the name of God wrongly’ I don’t wonder about the occasional word that slips out when I hit my thumb with a hammer because I don’t refer to Jesus at such times! But I do wonder about some of my teaching in the past where the answers I gave were too easy and I don’t think the mystery and challenge of God was honoured.

When I read that I am to rest on the Sabbath and I recognise the wisdom of it – I remember the culture of activity and busyness that all too frequently causes me to ignore the Sabbath principal and not have a day off.

When I read that I am to honour my parents – there is a complex response within me because there are unresolved things in our relationship. Because we live in different parts of the world and see each other every five years it is easy to ignore the pain of that reality. But is that honouring my parents, or running away from them?

When I read that I should not kill I feel confident that I have not taken somebody’s life with my bare hands, or some kind of weapon. This will probably come as a relief to many of you? But when I think about the cheap clothes that I wear made in the sweat-shops of Asia. When I remember the life expectancy of people who work in such sweat shops – because they are overcrowded, underpaid, and have dangerous machinery. My confidence is diminished because I have condoned the conditions of their work through the economic system that serves my interest.

When I read that I should not commit adultery – again I can feel confident that I have not kissed or had sex with another woman since I married Kate eleven years ago BUT I have from time to time thought about it – and been attracted to it. So I have fulfilled the letter of this law – but I don’t think the spirit of the law has been honoured all the time.

When I read ‘Do not steal’ I again think that I’ve honoured the letter of this law – but then I remember some of the books that I’ve borrowed over the years; books that I’ve still got on my bookshelf because I’ve forgotten to return them. So, I’ve still got property that belongs to other people and surely that is one form of stealing.

When I read ‘Do not lie’ I am forced to ask the question ‘What is a lie?’ If a lie is telling the half of the story which puts me in a good light, while omitting the other half of the story which puts me in a less favourable light? I think I am guilty of this one as well.

When I read ‘Do not covet your neighbour’s possessions…’ I think I go OK most of the time. Generally speaking I don’t think I wish I had her house, his car, her guitar, or his income. However, I do sometimes covet their talent.. I wish I could play guitar like him, or sing like him, or run like her, or speak a language like her… and so on.

So, I score zero out of ten. This has the potential for leaving me feeling like a failure because it seems to me like I just don’t measure up to the big rules.

All is not lost… I think as human beings there is an interplay between words and people. What I mean to say is that people shape words, and words shape people. So let us shape some words together! I’d like to invite people in our Parish this week to use their creativity and reframe the Ten Commandments from ‘DO NOT’s’ to ‘DO’s’. Let us have a quiet revolution of words that can overflow into our spirituality, psychology and sense of being.

To help with that process I’ll share with you some of my thoughts, recognising that they are imperfect and quite personal. But they are offered to prime your creativity in responding to the challenge…

ONE – Do remember that God is present in every moment – in the easy times and the hard times. So remember to say ‘thank you’ as well as ‘help!’

TWO – Do remember that you are unique, and awesome, and loved.

THREE – DO think about the way you use words and name your experience of God.

FOUR – Do rest regularly and take to time to reflect and play, so that your physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual batteries get recharged.

FIVE – Do love your parents.

SIX – Do help others

SEVEN – Be creatively faithful to your partner, your family, your friends, and your ideals.

EIGHT – Be thankful for what you have and share it.

NINE – Be truthful

TEN – Be thankful and ask God’s blessing on those who have more things or abilities than you.

I look forward to reading yours…

Pelvis & Philippines

2009-03-11T13:31:00.000+10:00

Each week through Lent we have an inward and an outward focus for reflection. The inward focus is grounded in Psalm 139 verse 14 which affirms that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. To help us reflect on this statement we have a life size skeleton in the church for Lent and each week we will think about the bones which are found in a particular part of the body.
This week we give thanks for our pelvis: The pelvis, or pelvic girdle, is the irregular bony structure located at the base of the spine (properly known as the caudal end). The pelvis gets its name because in Latin, "pelvis" means "basin" or "large bowl". Because of our pelvis we can bend over, walk upright, and do so many things…
Our outward focus is grounded in the reality that within our worshipping community we have people who speak twelve different languages other than English. As we progress towards Easter we are invited to pray intelligently for the countries that seven of those languages come from.
This week we remember the people of the Philippines. The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands in the Western Pacific Ocean. It has a population of 90 million people making it the twelfth most populated country in the world. In addition to this a further 11 million Filipinos are estimated to be living in other countries. 90% of Filipinos identify themselves as Christian with 81% being Roman Catholic. Please pray for the people of the Philippines.

Two Focus Areas for Lent

2009-03-02T22:12:00.002+10:00

Each week through Lent I’d like to have an inward and an outward focus in reflection.

The inward focus is grounded in Psalm 139 verse 14 which affirms that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. To help us reflect on this we will have a life size skeleton in the church throughout Lent and each week we will think about the bones which are found in a particular part of the body.

This week we give thanks for the bones of our feet and legs: the femur, tibia, fibula, tarsals and meta-tarsals, and phalanges; the ball joints of our hips and ankles; & the hinge joints of our knees and toes. What a gift to be able to walk upright – run – dance – play games. What about those people who cannot walk, and have to use wheelchairs? What about those people who have joints in their legs that are worn out, or are damaged by disease?

The outward focus is grounded in the reality that within our worshipping community we have people who speak twelve different languages other than English. As we progress towards Easter I’d like our Parish to pray intelligently for the countries that seven of those languages come from.

This week we remember the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In land area it is the twelfth largest country in the world, and has a population of 62,600.000. The languages used for administration are French, Lingala and Swahili. The Capital of the DRC is Kinshasa, and the country has extraordinary cobalt, copper, diamond, and other mineral reserves. Tragically, the ongoing conflict in the DRC is regarded as the world’s most deadly war since World War Two. It has claimed an estimated 5.4 million lives! Please pray for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Transfiguration

2009-02-24T13:12:00.002+10:00

Lat weekend we had our Annual General Meeting and I wondered if I should 'blog' my report because it talks about what has been and looks forward to what lies ahead. It's been uploaded to the Parish website so interested folk can read it there unless I get a request to post it here. For this week I'll share the reflection that was in the pew sheet...

In the Gospel today Jesus is described taking three close friends for some ‘time out’ on a mountain. While they were up on the mountain Jesus was transformed somehow, and the three friends were given a new insight into the relationship that Jesus had with God.

In the story Peter was so moved by the experience that he wanted to build three shelters on the holy ground where that encounter took place.

There are at least two things I’d want to draw from this account known as ‘the transfiguration’.

The first is that if Jesus made time in the midst of a busy life for reflection and prayer, should we not also do the same? We may not be physically able to get up Mount Archer but we could go for a walk on flatter ground! We could create other spaces in which reflection and physical exercise are possible eg weeding the flower beds, mowing the yard, walking the dog, riding the bike.
It is wonderful to be presented with this reading just before the journey of Lent. There is an opportunity for each of us to prioritise our time so that for a few weeks at least this practice becomes part of who we are, and how we operate. I’m not going to ask what you gave up for Lent – I’m going to ask what you took on!

Are you planning to be part of a Lent group? Are you planning to read a devotional book, or a portion of the Bible? Are you planning to keep a journal, or sit quietly in front of a candle at the end of each day?

Whatever we do there is a good chance that we will find ourselves in Peter’s shoes. Awed by the reality of Jesus in the ‘holy ground’ of our lives.

Anglican News from the Bush Fires

2009-02-16T12:51:00.002+10:00

In a letter to all Victorian clergy the Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier has written of his sense of disbelief “about the enormity of the devastation in Victoria”:

“We think of those who have lost their lives, those under care in hospitals, of those waiting for news of family and friends, those now homeless and the many still threatened by fire. The loss of property, while secondary, is beyond imagination, with homes, businesses and even whole townships destroyed,” he said.

“Our hearts go out to all affected, now and in the coming weeks, and we pray that in the midst of the blackness and grief, God’s healing presence will sustain those caught up in the firefighting, the recovery, the identification, all emergency services personnel – from front line firefighters to the police, paramedics, ambulance and medical staff, volunteers, aid agencies and chaplains - all of whom have given so courageously and self sacrificially.”

Their bravery and compassion are a great example to us all, he said.
“We acknowledge the community spirit which is binding and supporting the thousands whose lives have been changed by the events of these last days.”
“I pray for all who minister in the Diocese and for the community at large, all confronted by the immensity of this tragedy. Never forget that God is with us in our grief, our pain and our despair.”

Here in Rockhampton we are collecting money through the Parish to send to the Melbourne Diocesan Appeal which will be used to help people on the ground through the work of Anglicare Victoria.

Weekly Reflection

2009-01-29T11:08:00.001+10:00

I will put up an article each week and invite people to respond - I will write a 300 word reflection - hopefully that can stimulate discussion and in the midst of the dialogue we could develop some sense of cyber community?

On Tuesday 20th January 2009 Barak Hussein Obama was formally sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Two million people came out onto the streets of Washington to cheer him, there were joyful gatherings across the USA, and in many other parts of the world.

In the midst of a global economic crisis, intractable conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and fears about the future of our planet… people are looking for hope. Obama seems to embody hope with his vision of change in so many areas of human enterprise, made possible he suggests through collaborative effort.

I wonder if there was a similar sense of excitement among the communities of Galilee as Jesus shared his vision of hope… as he spent time with people who were excluded in his society and explained that they were important to God and worthy of love.
When we hear this week’s Gospel describe Jesus calling James and John we might imagine that his message and his miracles would have been the topic of conversations all over the region. So when Jesus said to James and John, ‘Do you want to be a part of this?’ They’d already had time to think about it and they joined the team we’ve come to know as ‘the disciples’.

In some ways two thousand years later we are also part of that same ‘team’ because of the promises that were made at our Baptism and Confirmation. As we celebrated Australia Day this week we might remember some of the needs in our country, in our local community, and in our Church community? We might then ask ourselves what it is we’re planning to do as part of the ‘team’ this year in response to those needs.

Let's talk!
*posted on behalf of Cameron Venables

2009-01-19T18:02:00.003+10:00

Welcome to the new blog for our All Saints Community, North Rockhampton. You may post your comments here, and come back for weekly thoughts and sermons. Have fun!