tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35584959082173350692024-03-05T06:31:51.330+00:00Bernwode BlogThis Blog is about the life of the seven churches:
Ashendon, Boarstall, Brill, Chilton, Dorton, Ludgershall, Wotton Underwood
Together we make the Bernwode BeneficeLesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-56709783972561440952011-07-15T19:47:00.002+01:002011-07-15T19:47:15.250+01:00Wheat and the Weeds<br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=177576521">Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43</a></div>
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Today, I’d like to concentrate on the Gospel reading which
is another parable from Matthew - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Parable
of the Wheat and the Weeds . It is difficult for me to preach on parables,
because I think Jesus used them, at least in part, to get people thinking, to
cause them to muse on them over the next few days, wondering what they mean and
how they relate to them. My hope and expectation is that the Holy Spirit will
cause each of us to spot something in the parable that relates to us or
encourages us or challenges us, and therefore my expectation is that we could
each go away with a different interpretation of what Jesus was saying. In fact
I would consider that to be a great success if that happened.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For this reason, it is normally thought that the ‘explanations’
of the parables are probably later additions to the gospel of Matthew, written by
the second generation of Christians. Matthew’s gospel is thought to have been
written in AD80, sometime after the fall of the Temple in AD70 so it is indeed possible
that there was input from second generation Christians.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So what does this parable mean to you? I wonder whether you
love it or hate it? I guess I have both reactions to it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I love it because, for me it goes some way to answering <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the question of why God lets suffering and
difficulty continue in the world. It is because the two grow so close together,
they have their roots entwined, pull up the weeds and you will pull up wheat
too… It isn’t so easy to separate suffering and blessing, and so often one leads
to the other. And so the parable reminds me get on with life, amongst the
suffering and difficulty, because there is no such thing as a weed free field
this side of eternity. The parable also reminds me that God is patient with me.
There are a lot of weeds growing in my heart, as well as some wheat. God takes
the rough with the smooth when it comes to Lesley, and the same with any of you
that are aware of your failings. God won’t be rough with us. There is a lovely
verse in Isaiah 42 that says: <o:p></o:p></div>
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‘A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he
will not snuff out.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, in some ways this is my favourite parable, a word of
comfort from a gentle God. But, on the other hand you could see a theology that
is called ‘predestination’ in it. This is a theology that some of the reformers
expounded when the Protestant churches broke away from the Catholic church. It
is often attributed to a man called Calvin, and hence you may meet ‘Calvinists’
who have this theology. The idea is that God, before time, decided who would go
to heaven – called ‘the elect’ and who would go to Hell – called ‘the reprobate’,
and then the two groups live together, one forever predestined for glory and
the other forever predestined for eternal damnation. Needless to say, I don’t
believe in a God like this. But I guess, if I did, then the parable tells us
that all we can do is grow, thrive and not judge others <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>because at the end of the day it is only God
who knows what is wheat and what are the weeds.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I should probably have said earlier that the parable partly
relies on the idea that it is very difficult to tell what is wheat and what are
the weeds, as it is thought that the weeds were a plant called ‘darnel’ which
initially looks very similar to wheat. In preparing this sermon I have noticed
some more ideas about this parable that feel helpful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For a start Jesus is very black and white here – there are
two types of crop, good quality wheat and useless weeds. There are two main characters
involved, the good farmer and the fiendish enemy. There are two times of day –
the farmer in the daytime and the enemy under the cover of night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two destinations – the wheat in the
barn or the weeds in the fire.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So it is tempting, isn’t it, to be black and white
ourselves? Throughout church history, there have been people who are quite
clear about what is good doctrine and what is bad, and the bad has been plucked
out and the offending books have been burned. Indeed Jesus was accused of
having false doctrine. There have been people who are quite clear about who are
good Christian leaders and who are bad, and the bad ones have been plucked out
and burned at the stake. Indeed Jesus was crucified for being a false messiah. There
are people who have been quite clear about what worship is good and what is
bad, and the false altars have been pulled down and burned in the fire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed Jesus was denounced for encouraging
false worship. There have been people who are quite clear about good and bad
lifestyles and those with bad lifestyles have been plucked out and burned in
the fire. And yet Jesus said that he died to save sinners, not to condemn them.
The Wheat and the weeds are to grow up together . The weeds are not to be
plucked out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To save.. not to condemn.. That challenges me. Who have I
condemned? Who have we as a church condemned? How about through the ages – the crusades,
the inquisition – the church has done much plucking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I heard a story about a church who had a sponsored walk and
one of the lads did the walk in a Tutu and carrying a rainbow flag. So they
airbrushed him out of the photos because they didn’t want to promote
homosexuality. Who do I airbrush out? Do I airbrush out Jesus’ friends in the
Gospel? The tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the sinners? Perhaps it is frankly
tidier to airbrush Jesus out because he can be a bit embarrassing sometimes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This parable is a parable of Tolerance. Life is messy. I
should expect to find myself surrounded by ‘weeds’ (arrogantly presupposing
that I am ‘wheat’), people who have different values, who challenge me,
irritate me, unnerve me. To be honest, that isn’t my experience recently. So
where are they? Have I plucked them out? I will be saying this a lot, but if
there is one thing this Benefice has taught me, it is the power of acceptance
and love. Perhaps as life goes on I will learn that more and more and
consequently find more and more weeds surrounding me!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope you have found something in this parable that the
Holy Spirit is trying to tell you. I know I have. I hope God continues to bless
you richly through this parable this week.<o:p></o:p></div>
Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-66560674405040484282011-04-05T11:08:00.001+01:002011-04-05T11:09:22.807+01:00Your Church Wedding<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QiJcVz7zMKQ" title="YouTube video player" width="400"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-75351187552033933422011-03-06T08:10:00.001+00:002011-03-06T08:42:19.315+00:00The Transfiguration - Matthew 17:1-9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://whycatholicsdothat.com/wp-content/uploads/image1362-transfiguration2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://whycatholicsdothat.com/wp-content/uploads/image1362-transfiguration2a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:1-9&version=ESV">Matthew 17:1-9</a></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br />
</o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Glory.. what does the word glory mean to you? Can anyone give me a definition?<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">I have heard it said that Glory is a symbol of light, of transformation, and of the direct revelation of God’s presence. All of these were present at the Transfiguration.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This time of transfiguration is a mountain-top experience, a moment when it feels like the veil between heaven and earth has drawn very thin… I wonder whether you have experienced that? Perhaps when out on a mountain top, or when walking in the countryside, or driving and seeing a sunset, or in a time of prayer? Or in church? Has anyone experienced a time of glory?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is a strange thing the transfiguration because it seems to have many echoes of the story of the crucifixion – especially in Matthew’s gospel:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Matthew has the centurion at the foot of the cross saying ‘Truly this was the Son of God’ just like the voice from heaven at the transfiguration. Matthew also has three female disciples at the foot of the cross –Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee just as there are three male disciples at the transfiguration – Peter, James and John. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But there are also four dramatic contrasts between the story of the transfiguration and of the cross:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Firstly Jesus takes his friends with him, up a mountain for his transfiguration. For his crucifixion Jesus is taken by strangers to a hill having been abandoned by his friends. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Secondly at the crucifixion Jesus’ clothes are stripped off and squabbled over: at the transfiguration Jesus’ clothes are turned shiny white. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Thirdly the transfiguration is full of light – the light comes not just from Jesus’ clothes but also from his face. His face shone like the sun - according to Matthew - and even the cloud out of which the voice from heaven cam was ‘bright’. The crucifixion on the hand was full of darkness. Luke tells us that at the actual point of Jesus’ death ‘there was darkness over the whole land’ and the sun’s light failed. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Fourthly at the transfiguration there are two saints standing beside Jesus: at the crucifixion hang two robbers. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the story in Luke’s gosepel, we are told that Jesus was glorified at the transfiguration and that the disciples woke to see his glory. But Jesus is also glorified – in a different – even opposite way -at his crucifixion.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is if we are looking at two pictures of the same thing with similar outlines but contrasting even opposite colours. If one scene were sketched on a transparency and placed over the other many of its lines would disappear. What is the significance of this? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well the two scenes represent the extremes of human experience. One speaks of nakedness and mockery, nails and blood, suffering and loneliness, torture and death. The other makes visible the presence of God within a human being. So Jesus embodies the whole spectrum of human possibility in one person. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why he is always been so attractive and inspiring. He shows forth in his own person both the depths of pain and anguish which a human being can know and –what we all long for – transformation to a state beyond pain and anguish. Jesus it the great illustration of both pain and hope. At his transfiguration he is humanity transformed and humanity glorified. But he can only transform humanity through his crucifixion as demonstrated by his subsequent resurrection. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I wonder whether if you thought about the times that you have felt closest to God, or when you have felt transformed as a person.. are those moments like the crucifixion or like the transfiguration? I think for me I have some of both… but perhaps the most powerful are the times that were painful.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Here finally are some words from the author Michael Willson: ‘The cross is not a rescue like the Exodus from an evil situation but salvation in and through a evil situation, first confronting it, then bearing it, then transforming it. It is as if evil is the raw material out of which new life is forged. The news of the gospel is not moral perfection nor sinlessness, it is forgiveness.’ Through forgiveness and love evil is reversed and can be changed into good. ‘Jesus is less interested in the causes of evil but in its transformation’ <o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-81425611549378818742011-02-09T19:31:00.000+00:002011-02-09T19:31:07.900+00:00Renewable Energies Seminar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv77d3ZP0WiYsdEIwtJcgZB6MJs7581Ha8mEaGQnoFNzzxZVN-qDxfEKdUDqXA2qL5OSXcWkEYpbTopwcLSloM93KK-BEmjheAZSqTwj5b9iqfp44hDCjHyDRenYBvRUz3pjCn4rfnfXvw/s1600/P1010760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv77d3ZP0WiYsdEIwtJcgZB6MJs7581Ha8mEaGQnoFNzzxZVN-qDxfEKdUDqXA2qL5OSXcWkEYpbTopwcLSloM93KK-BEmjheAZSqTwj5b9iqfp44hDCjHyDRenYBvRUz3pjCn4rfnfXvw/s320/P1010760.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="961373015-01022011"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">On the 5th March I will be organising a seminar in<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing,_Buckinghamshire"> Wing</a>. The picture above is of some of their solar panels that Wing church folks have put on their roof (I was being brave when I too the photo). Please consider coming along (details below). If you have a house or school or church or church hall that you have some responsibility for then this is a way of making money as well as being 'green'.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Your church & renewable energy – Wing Seminar<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> <blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">An opportunity to hear about renewable energy options and your church building.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Find out how your church can generate electricity, cut energy bills and, through the feed-in-tariffs, make a good return on its investment!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Including presentations and information from experts, plus an opportunity to see solar panels on a </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">church roof in action.</span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;">On <strong>5th March 2011</strong> at All Saints Church, Wing, Buckinghamshire<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Starts at 9.30am and finish by 12.30pm<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Coffee and tea will be available for a small fee.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3';">For further details and to book a place visit</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">: </span></strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3';"><a href="http://www.earthingfaith.org/wingseminar"><strong>www.earthingfaith.org/wingseminar</strong></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3';">Alternatively send your name and contact details by email to <a href="mailto:environment@oxford.anglican.org">environment@oxford.anglican.org</a> or call 01865 208745</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.earthingfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Wing-Seminar-Leaflet-A4-small.pdf">Click here </a>to download a poster to advertise the event.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Organised by the Diocese of Oxford and hosted by All Saints Church, Wing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></span> <div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.earthingfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Wing-Seminar-Leaflet-A4-small.pdf"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1763" height="300" src="http://www.earthingfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/poster-203x300.jpg" title="poster" width="203" /></a></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</span></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-77410208878838192202011-02-08T21:13:00.000+00:002011-02-08T21:13:18.254+00:00February Pause for Thought...<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;">Pause For Thought ….</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with Lesley Fellows<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Do you ever think religion does more harm than good? Do you ever read stories about religious people that make you wince? Do you ever think that Richard Dawkins has a point when he talks about abusive religion? There are some terrible stories in the news that make me put my head in my hands. But there again, I came across this piece of writing by a Quaker called Bernard Canter, and he answers these questions so well:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 40.2pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Religion is living with God. There is no other kind of religion. Living with a Book, living with or by a Rule, being awfully high-principled are not in themselves religion, although many people think they are and that that is all there is to it. Religion has got a bad name through being identified with an outward orderliness. But an outward orderliness can be death, dullness and masochism. Doing your duty may be admirable stoicism; it isn't religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 40.2pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">To find religion itself you must look inside people and inside yourself. And there, if you find even the tiniest grain of true love, you may be on the right scent. Millions of people have it and don't know what it is that they have. God is their guest, but they haven't the faintest idea that he is in the house. So you mustn't only look where God is confessed and acknowledged. You must look everywhere, to find the real religion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">I completely believe that true Religion transforms both us and our world for the better. It is based on compassion and love, not on stoicism, nor on legalism, nor on judgementalism. It is like falling in love, it transforms everything, because nothing can ever be the same again. We do need to open our eyes and our hearts though. I will leave you with some words that I love from a nun called Joan Chittister:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 40.2pt; margin-top: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All life takes on a new dimension once we begin to see it as spiritual people. The bad does not destroy us and the good gives us new breath because we are always aware that everything is more than it is. The family is not just a routine relationship; it is our sanctification. Work is not just a job; it is our exercise in miracle making. Prayer is not just quiet time; it is an invitation to grow. We begin to find God where we could not see God before, not as a panacea or an anesthetic, not as a cheap release from the problems of life, but as another measure of life's meaning for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 40.2pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I pray that all of us find ourselves surprised by God this year.</span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-78714675091459167132011-02-05T20:07:00.000+00:002011-02-05T20:07:28.869+00:00Salt in the dung<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2910123354_c77041e9f2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2910123354_c77041e9f2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><sup><br />
</sup></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5:13-20&version=NIV">Matthew 5:13-20</a></sup></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><sup><br />
</sup></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-size: x-small;">1 Cor 2:19<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-size: x-small;"> <sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387O" title="See cross-reference O"><sup>O</sup></a><sup>)</sup> "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-size: x-small;"> nor the heart of man imagined,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-size: x-small;">what God has<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387P" title="See cross-reference P"><sup>P</sup></a><sup>)</sup> prepared<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387Q" title="See cross-reference Q"><sup>Q</sup></a><sup>)</sup> for those who love him"—</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Jesus, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount starts in the courtyard of a house, and then goes inside. Jewish homes were built as a single room in a U shape around a courtyard. The courtyard would contain the “earth”, which was an outdoor earthen oven, a millstone for grinding, a dung heap, chicken and cattle. The earthen oven would be fuelled by dung and this was mixed with salt to help it burn. In the same passage in Luke, it says that salt which has lost its saltiness is “fit neither for the earth, nor the dunghill, men throw it away”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is an interesting analogy – that somehow we are meant to be the catalyst that keeps the flame alive, and we are meant to be found in the dung, the messiness of our society and of life. I wonder if this is how you see yourselves?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
We then go into the house, which was lit with an oil lamp that was put on a stand and as there was only one room it lit the whole house. At night time it was extinguished by placing a bushel basket over it and leaving it there, so that the house didn’t get filled with smoke and fumes just before retiring to bed.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Jesus is asking us whether we are like the light on the lampstand or whether we are like the extinguished lamp with the bushel basket. Darkness to the hearers of this parable was not just the absence of light – darkness had a life of its own, it was sinister.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I want to think about light and darkness in this sermon, and the encouragement of those words from Corinthians:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a></sup><sup>)</sup> "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,<br />
nor the heart of man imagined,<br />
what God has<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387P" title="See cross-reference P"><sup>P</sup></a><sup>)</sup> prepared<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387Q" title="See cross-reference Q"><sup>Q</sup></a><sup>)</sup> for those who love him"—<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
I want to think about how we can remain salty, stay as a catalyst, keep the flame burning and generally stop being smothered by the bushel basket.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
So if we think about darkness, a darkness that is active and not simply a lack of light, what is that darkness for you? For me it is fear every time.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
My major fear has been inadequacy, that if I was found out, I wouldn’t be lovable. I regularly read a commentary on the rule of Benedict and in the section in humility the author, Joan Chittistler considers that all people secretly think they are inferior to others which is why we cling so tightly to our achievements, our degrees and so on.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Certainly, for me, the only thing that could silence the voice that said I wasn’t good enough was by being the best. Each year at university I had to come out top. I got the top first and the prize for best project, somehow a first in itself couldn’t satisfy my desperate inadequacy, it had to be the top one.<o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">I was truly dreadful at receiving criticism too. I can remember occasions where someone in authority has criticised me, and rather than listen and evaluate their opinions, I have been desperately hurt. Hopefully, that is better now.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
I think a closely related fear is the fear of being rejected, and I can trace rather painful threads back to my childhood. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
I don’t know whether any of these fears resonate with you – whether you can recognise fears that have dogged you all your life? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So how on earth do we get over these fears? I guess the first thing is we get a friend to challenge us. I have a friend who is permanently afraid of ‘them’. So I say 'who are "they" exactly?', and 'what are "they" going to say to you or do to you?' Another thing is ‘what is the worst thing that can happen?’<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Encouragement is good too – I was very discouraged recently and my bishop said that he thought I was perfectly able to do this or that. I walked out so much taller. Of course it helped that the Bishop told me.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
I think the key is that we need to expose our fears – to bring them into the light, with someone we trust – hopefully someone who won’t collude with us, but challenge us and encourage us.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Do we really want to be fearful, or do we want to be salt and light? Do we want to be a catalyst for change, do we want to bring light? I am hoping the answer is no, so let us unshackle ourselves from the darkness and remember that God loves us:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a></sup><sup>)</sup> "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,<br />
nor the heart of man imagined,<br />
what God has<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387P" title="See cross-reference P"><sup>P</sup></a><sup>)</sup> prepared<sup>(</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A1-12%2C1+Corinthians+2%3A13-16&version=ESV#cen-ESV-28387Q" title="See cross-reference Q"><sup>Q</sup></a><sup>)</sup> for those who love him"—<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
The Bible tells us ‘do not be afraid’ more than a hundred times, and more than any other commandment. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We are told that those who walk in darkness have seen a great light and asked the question ‘if God is for us then who can be against us?’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
So let us throw off our bushel baskets, find ways to admit and overcome our fears and start shining as lights in our dark world, or to use another metaphor let us be salt in amongst the dung. Amen<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-68093057709899972542011-01-22T16:44:00.000+00:002011-01-22T16:44:50.982+00:00Calling the disciples<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ecva.org/exhibition/icons/images/runnells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://www.ecva.org/exhibition/icons/images/runnells.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204:12-22&version=ESV">MATTHEW 4:12-22</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So let’s just glean some information from the reading we have heard. We learn of the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin and also the one who had baptised him. It seems likely that Jesus has been part of John’s group, but on his arrest the disciples scatter and the ministry there at the Jordan ends. So Jesus leaves John the Baptist’s group, and remember from last week that the group included Andrew and Simon Peter and possibly the apostle John.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The next thing we find is that Jesus then took up residence in Capernaum near the sea. There is no explanation at all given for this. I guess I would surmise that Jesus needed to go and think. John had been arrested, what did that mean? Was Jesus to take over the ministry? Would it be a different form? Is now the time? What would the implications be?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">John the Baptist was a holy man – following in the footsteps of the Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha – meeting with God in dreams, visions and altered states of consciousness. Jesus had followed in this way, learning the ropes, perhaps. I think of Holy people as those who are capable of embodying the values that they espouse.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">John had been the rabbi, training his disciples and now he was gone, so Jesus becomes the rabbi, and the first thing a rabbi does is call his disciples. So he finds Simon Peter and Andrew. Fishing was done overnight or early in the morning and then the rest of the day was dedicated to mending the nets, and that is what the brothers were doing when they were called. ‘Follow me’, Jesus says, and they do. Then the same with James and John, sons of Zebedee.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We have thought before about what a privilege it was to be a disciple of a rabbi. In most cases only the best of the best of the best became disciples – those who has studied the scriptures and learned them off by heart – those who could answer questions on the Law and the Prophets, they were the only ones who would take the Yoke of their Rabbi’s teachings. Hence, when Jesus called them, perhaps it is no surprise that they were quick to respond, they were being told that they were worthy, that they were chosen, that to Jesus they were good enough.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It reminds me of that old Chinese Proverb – “He who thinks he is a leader and has no followers is actually only going for a walk”.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I would like to consider a few aspects of Jesus’s leadership that I think were brilliant and I would like to emulate, and perhaps all of us can emulate them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first is embodying his values, which I have already spoken about. Another who did this was Gandhi – amazing things can be achieved if we completely embody the change we would like to see. It has to be authentic - it has to go through us - no one will be fooled by a mask. We must never tire - never slump in our standards, never get negative and unfocused - always challenge anything that erodes the vision. When people give us a negative and hopeless rhetoric we must not ignore it, but reply, 'Ah, it is tempting to feel like that, but there is a better way.....' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second is Listening; I am convinced that Jesus listened very deeply. I was reminded again of the three levels of listening recently. It really is the most important skill. If we feel heard then it is so important, and so unusual. I have turned over a new leaf, again, to listen at level 3 as often as I can. So here they are:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b>Level 1 or ‘Internal listening’</b><br />
As the listener your focus in on yourself and your own thoughts rather than the speaker. As the speaker is talking you interpret what you hear in terms of what it means to you. This is normal everyday conversation where it is natural as the listener to gather information to help you form opinions and make decisions. You may feel that you appear to be listening, but in fact your thoughts have wandered off.<br />
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<b>Level 2 or ‘Listening to understand’</b><br />
As a listener operating at level 2 you are focusing totally on the speaker, listening to their words, tone of voice and body language and are not distracted by your own thoughts and feelings. You can summarise back to the person in their own type of language what they have said, and be completely attentive. This is a very high degree of listening.<br />
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<b>Level 3 or ‘Global Listening’</b><br />
This involves the listener focusing on the speaker and picking up more than what is being said. You are aware of what is going on in your own emotions - you will be empathising and so your own feelings will mirror those of the person you are listening to. You can gauge their energy and their emotions as well as picking up what they are not saying. You will understand what they are thinking and feeling, and trusting your own senses can be extremely responsive to the needs of the person you are listening to, knowing what question to ask next.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The third is Empowering – Jesus taught his disciples what to do and what he expected, and then when they were ready he sent them off to do likewise and report back, so when he was gone the movement continued – he taught them to make disciples who make disciples.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is a saying ‘May you be covered in the Dust of your Rabbi’.. this was because the disciples walked behind their rabbi and they got caked in whatever the rabbi had stepped in. It was a sandy, dusty place and they walked close enough to get covered in the dust of their rabbi. This is a metaphor for us – may we walk so closely to Jesus that we gat covered in his dust. But what does that mean for us today?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What is the challenge for us? Jesus says ‘Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’. Do we want to be part of this? I am guessing the answer to this is yes because we are all here – we want to be part of bringing God’s love and God’s justice to this world. Jesus says we need to repent – but what does this mean – what can we do?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well I guess there are a few things I really want to repent of:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">- The first is that feeling that I’m not really good enough.. Jesus has called us all. Like the first disciples, we may think there are others better than us… this is utterly irrelevant – Jesus called us, not the other way around. Jesus has faith in us, do we have any faith in ourselves?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">- The second is the desire to give up, to compromise, to cooperate with all those who say it is all too hard. We are here to change the world, with the help of the Holy Spirit and following the model of Jesus. Let’s not compromise our standards or our beliefs, let us challenge ourselves and others, and always seek the higher way. I don’t mean judge people, I don’t mean spread guilt and shame.. I mean spread love, spread encouragement, I mean treat ourselves and others with respect and dignity.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">- The third is I need to listen more, listen to people more deeply and hear what people are actually saying, because the people who listen well are those who have a chance of hearing God and hearing others, and in doing so those who listen might change the world.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let us together Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-36459709754630933512011-01-16T19:53:00.000+00:002011-01-16T19:53:43.774+00:00St Mary's appeal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuf3MY3g25XdWgE4KzbK9728LrI5hx8gdsxup5YsVNozB8OwpZSrR3kkIS59DE7hSLxEjUctpGzB7Bu6cBbI0xdvJ3YsjWpCb-LBL8uDilpiSV5MUUl5z3KHYtjAn3O6BPXYtoQ8toW-Mg/s1600/P1010286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuf3MY3g25XdWgE4KzbK9728LrI5hx8gdsxup5YsVNozB8OwpZSrR3kkIS59DE7hSLxEjUctpGzB7Bu6cBbI0xdvJ3YsjWpCb-LBL8uDilpiSV5MUUl5z3KHYtjAn3O6BPXYtoQ8toW-Mg/s320/P1010286.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
St Mary's, Ludgershall<br />
<br />
Our ancient church needs your help!<br />
<br />
Problems began in earnest on 24 March 2010 when vandals stole much of the lead from the roof of the nave, leaving the timber work open to the elements. With local help and volunteers the roof was quickly made weather-proof - for the time being at least.<br />
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But trouble had started much earlier and its consequences are widespread.<br />
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Since the building was last refurbished in 1889 the lead has been carefully patched whenever leaks have been detected. Unfortunately these and other repairs have not been successful in keeping water out. Even as the vandals were at work, an alarming report was being completed for the Parochial Church Council. This showed that the whole lead roof needs to be replaced.<br />
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The chancel roof is tiled but is not fully accessible. We hope that further inspection will show that it is in better shape. With advice from the diocese a new church architect has been chosen. Richard Oxley of Henley has an international reputation for restoration. As it happens he recently restored the windmill at Brill. He has experience of working with English Heritage whose help we shall need on this major project.<br />
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Several times in the past 20 years attempts have been made to treat the death watch beetle in the roof. This has not been successful because of the leaks of the lead roof.<br />
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Evidence of the infestation is widespread - for example the brown stains on the walls. Some of the structural timbers have been weakened as a result and earlier repairs need to be made good. It will not be known, until an invasive structural survey is completed, just how extensive these repairs need to be.<br />
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The good news is that we may be permitted to replace the lead on the main roof with a surface treated stainless steel substitute.This would look the same and be just as effective but it should not encourage the vandals to return.<br />
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Significant damage is being caused by water coming from below too. The stonework is marked by surface crystal growth, deposited by the dampness leaching out the heart of the stone. The disused Victorian underfloor heating ducts no longer keep the foundations dry, and sometimes contain standing water. They also serve as a very damp and unsuitable conduit for electric cables.<br />
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The church floor is seriously affected. The wood blocks are damp (from below) and infested by worm (from above). The Victorian tiles are worn and cracked. The access grills and vents of the old heating system are redundant and a source of safety trips. The impervious rendering of the interior walls is coming away because of the damp.<br />
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The external stonework is heavily eroded in places and the cut stone needs serious attention. The walls themselves have been re-pointed over the years, but often with strong cement mortar that traps moisture and ultimately destroys the softer limestone. This is particularly evident on the south face of the porch.<br />
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How much will it cost and how long will it take to put all this right? The building is listed Grade 1 and we can do nothing without the blessing and permission of the Diocese and English Heritage. Guided by Richard Oxley an application has been made (June 2010).<br />
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Priorities, in order, are further investigations, the external proofing of the building and drainage, the internal work such as the floor. We hope for first stage permission and some support from English Heritage by November 2010.<br />
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The cost may be £250,000, rising to £400,000 depending on the findings of the further investigations. We need significant help from English Heritage - and other contributions large and small.Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-563311077577480502011-01-01T15:43:00.000+00:002011-01-01T15:43:37.908+00:00Epiphany Sermon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://standrewschurch.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/StainedGlassNativity71.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://standrewschurch.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/StainedGlassNativity71.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2:1-12&version=NIV">Matt 2:1-12</a> (All Age talk - sort of!)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Epiphany is a time of tradition, when we celebrate the visit of the Magi – but how well do the traditions relate to the Bible? So Let’s do a little quiz..<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>How many Kings were there?</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">0 because they were Magi<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>How many Magi were there?</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We don’t know<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Did they visit Jesus in the stable?</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No – the Bible says it was a house<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Did they visit Jesus when he was a baby?</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No – the Bible says he was a child<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>So how old was Jesus when the Magi came?<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We don’t know, but Herod asked when they had first seen the star and then killed off the boys under the age of two.. so he was probably about two<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>And what was the meaning behind the gifts?</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are two traditions at Epiphany…two stories.. one that I think you will know and the other that you won’t..<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first is that wise men came from the East and brought Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Gold because Jesus is King, and Kings have gold<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Frankincense because Jesus is God, and incense is burnt to represent prayers<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Myrrh to represent the death that Jesus would endure, because myrrh is used to embalm dead bodies..<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a tradition that comes from a time when people would allegorise texts – they would find a hidden meaning for each word.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is an older tradition and it is the one I favour... That magi came from the East and laid down the tools of their trade before Jesus and worshiped him as the one true God, and went away to start a new life. The magi, you see, had lots of Gold because people gave them gold to foretell the future. If someone’s child was poorly and they thought that their child may die, they would pay the magi money to foretell the future and to tell them whether there was anything they could do to save their child. Of course they wouldn’t pay just anyone money, they only paid people that they believed in, and so Magi would come into town and perform magic tricks, they would light fires and pour on frankincense and myrrh, and the smoke would have two effects – the first was that it helped them disguise their magic tricks, so people couldn’t see how they were done, the second was that it gave people a sense of mystery, a sense of the spiritual because when we smell these odd smells we feel that some mysterious thing is happening.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, the old age was passing – the one of fear and superstition and the magi are symbolic of that. Fatalism, reading fortunes in the stars or on hands or in tea leaves – and the age that Jesus brought in is love – where we practise kindness, where we know there is a loving God and where we live in the presence of that love and not in fear.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well that is the end of my quiz… so looking at the passage, there was one thing that struck me.. When Herod heard of the birth of the Messiah, he was excited? Joyful? No –afraid.. Well I suppose that was inevitable – after all Herod was a King and the Messiah would depose him. But what about the common people of Jerusalem? The Bible says they were afraid too.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why were they afraid?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">- is it because they thought God would judge them harshly?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">- is it because they thought there would be an uprising and the Romans would fight back?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">- or is there just something really scary about being before God – with God – a place where we can’t pretend..<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is it sometimes easier to go the route of the Magi – live with superstitions and rules.. be fatalistic and think nothing can change – perhaps paying for things with Gold is an easier route to filling the emptiness than turning to the Messiah and knowing that it will fundamentally change us. Perhaps if we thought the Messiah was coming in the flesh we would be afraid too.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope not. I think, for each of us we have the choice between fear and love.. and the Bible tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. Let us set aside all the things to do with the old age, the fear and the fatalism and the suspicion and the darkness… and remember that our God is a God of love, and Jesus was born to be the Light of the World.<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-48643709757965797752010-12-12T10:22:00.002+00:002010-12-12T10:22:27.128+00:00I'm not jumping in<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sN2C4uRW3nA?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sN2C4uRW3nA?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thanks to Estelle</div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-58517451932608837132010-11-28T07:00:00.002+00:002010-11-28T07:00:00.683+00:00Advent Reflection<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UZSz1FDTj2g?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UZSz1FDTj2g?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-59464144507312030222010-11-14T10:25:00.000+00:002010-11-14T10:25:16.436+00:00Remembrance Sunday Sermon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvwQeX7Nn575XIJtHpoGnU2jS6fcCHIb5BIjQlPBW-Mp9-H7lMMN9icNQFYDdJu1eJpzIEwPCrXBBkvYLeYKZ3r-Gw-5bcV9MdR-Mno_43mlUEFjjW0SeXnbWly6Wxr9IyBmxdS7xu0Tp/s1600/remembrance-day-poppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvwQeX7Nn575XIJtHpoGnU2jS6fcCHIb5BIjQlPBW-Mp9-H7lMMN9icNQFYDdJu1eJpzIEwPCrXBBkvYLeYKZ3r-Gw-5bcV9MdR-Mno_43mlUEFjjW0SeXnbWly6Wxr9IyBmxdS7xu0Tp/s320/remembrance-day-poppy.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have recently made friends with someone who has memory problems. Her mind is sharp, but her memory is terrible, so she will ask me over and over again the same questions – what day is it, what is your name? It is a disability, she can no longer look after herself and she needs to live in a home. It is a stark metaphor to me as to why we need to remember.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Memory serves an important purpose – it keeps us safe – as children we burn ourselves and remember not to do it again. We rely on those who do remember to warn us about dangers. Those in our communities those who can remember the most as a result of their age and often harsh experiences have wisdom and we would do well to listen to them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Many of us here have been touched by war and by conflicts. In my family the war is never far away because my dad was injured in the war and has no hearing in one ear and limited hearing in the other. It has dogged him all his life, and in later life he has suffered panic attacks. He never mentions the war. He would rather not remember. Also, my Granddad on my mum’s side was injured in the first world war and died when he got home, leaving my gran widowed with two small children. She remarried a cruel man and the agony went on. She was emotionally absent. I think she wanted to forget too. My uncle served in Asia, was captured by the Japanese and returned home almost dead with stories of extreme cruelty. My mum’s cousin was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Stallag. Add your stories to my stories and we have a lot of pain and suffering to remember, and a lot of ordinary men and women who had hopes and dreams and families and promising lives that were cut short, broken, lost.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Today we remember those who have fallen in all the wars and conflicts, and remember those who have been lost recently. We kneel before God and ask for it to be different. We ask for peace in our world, but we also ask ourselves what we can do differently.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I listened to a talk by a man called Giles Fraser who said that after the Civil War in England, after Catholics and Protestants had burned each other to death over whether the bread and wine were the actual body and blood of Christ, after everyone had become sick of the smell of burning flesh and the fear of reprisals, we declared a peace treaty. The Church of England is the peace treaty. The Book of Common Prayer was carefully worded such that you could believe all manner of theology, but ultimately we all kneel at the same altar and worship God together. Is it really worth killing each other about these things? In the end, the answer was no, and polite dinner rules were brought in whereby no one talked about religion, politics or sex. The capacity to disagree whilst still respecting the other is desperately needed in our world.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The other thing that is desperately needed is equality. Those groups who become radicalised have often been oppressed and marginalised for years. If we don’t want to send our young men and women to war, then working for equality and tolerance in our families, in our villages, in our country and in our world is a very good place to start.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So let us take a moment to remember, remember how dreadful war is, remember those who made and make huge sacrifices for us, and think about how we can work to promote tolerance and equality in our world.<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-89576938453554808642010-10-22T12:07:00.000+01:002010-10-22T12:07:28.385+01:00Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://timothyministries.org/images/JesusInTheTemple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://timothyministries.org/images/JesusInTheTemple.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Luke 4:14</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. <b><sup>15</sup></b>He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> <b><sup>16</sup></b>He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. <b><sup>17</sup></b>The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:<br />
<b><sup>18</sup></b>"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,<br />
because he has anointed me<br />
to preach good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners<br />
and recovery of sight for the blind,<br />
to release the oppressed,<br />
<b><sup>19</sup></b>to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."<sup>[</sup><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4&version=NIV#fen-NIV-25075e" title="See footnote e"><sup>e</sup></a><sup>]</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> <b><sup>20</sup></b>Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, <b><sup>21</sup></b>and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> <b><sup>22</sup></b>All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> <b><sup>23</sup></b>Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"> <b><sup>24</sup></b>"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Jesus wasn’t a carpenter. I don’t think so. When I hear people say that he was, I am intrigued – why do they think that? Yes I know his dad was a carpenter, but I think Jesus was a rabbi. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You see, the Jewish people sent their children to school. At the age of six they sent their boys and perhaps their girls to learn the Torah. They would memorise the Torah – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy…. all off by heart. At the age of 10 the best ones would stay on at school, those who had managed this feat. However, most would go off and learn their father’s trade at that point. I think Jesus was still at school aged 12, because we learn about his visit to the Temple, when he was left behind, and how amazed the rabbis were amazed at his questions and his understanding. Presumably he was asking them about the scriptures.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Those that stayed would go on to memorise the rest of the Hebrew scriptures – Genesis all the way through Malachi, off by heart. They would stay at school until they were fourteen or fifteen, and then most would go and learn their father’s trade. However, the very best, who had accomplished this would carry on with their learning. I can’t imagine it was many, a tiny percentage.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">These few would go and find a rabbi and become a disciple – I disciple doesn’t just want to know what the rabbi know he want to be like the rabbi is. Now the rabbis had different understandings of the scriptures, different interpretations, and that rabbi’s teachings were known as that rabbi’s ‘yoke’. So if you wanted to follow a particular rabbi, you wanted to take on that particular ‘yoke’. So, aged fifteen a boy would find a rabbi and go for an interview. He would be grilled, and at this point most would fail, however, if they were really impressive, then the rabbi would say ‘come and follow me’. And then the kid would leave his family and his village and his friends. Each rabbi would travel, and go from town to town, teaching the scriptures, followed by his disciples. By the end of the day the disciples would be covered in whatever the rabbis would have stepped in. And so there was a saying ‘may you covered in the dust of your rabbi’.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The rabbis were the most respected people, and hence if you had a child in your village who had managed to be so learned and find a rabbi, how would you feel? Pretty good. Your village would be on the map, your villagers aren’t stupid, they are clever. And I believe this is what happened to Jesus. He was the best of the best of the best. He left Nazareth aged fifteen, he was a disciple until he was thirty, which is the age at which they were expected to find their own disciples. This passage is set after he is baptised and before he has called the disciples. He comes home at the end of his training, when he no longer has to be in the dust of his rabbi.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now Nazareth was a very small place and quite remote – everyone would know everyone and probably be related to everyone. I can imagine that this was the first rabbi they had ever had. They were proud of him. They heard reports that he had preached amazingly in the synagogues in the area. They probably hadn’t seen him since he was fifteen. They were all loving seeing him – wow hasn’t he grown? Doesn’t he speak graciously?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And then Jesus says something that at first seems paranoid, he says ‘no prophet will be accepted in his home town’. He then preached a sermon. He has read a scripture that is radically inclusive, inclusive of the poor, the oppressed, the blind, the prisoners. And then if you read on in the scriptures he tells them that God loves the foreigners, the outsiders, the Gentiles as much if not more than them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And their reaction? They dragged him out of the synagogue, out to the edge of the cliff that their village was built on with the intention of throwing him over. He escaped. Wow – overreaction or what???<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And so.. the moral of the story is that Jesus started his manifesto proclaiming inclusivity and healing, he wanted to embrace the outcasts, the criminals, the poor, the oppressed, the people who are different to those who were in the synagogue. He then illustrated this by saying that God loved foreigners and demonstrated this in history, and it made people mad and want to kill him.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This could sum up Jesus’ ministry all the way through. He said God loved the unlovable and that made people so uncomfortable that they wanted to kill him.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So the first thing to note is that the trick is to be like Jesus and not like the ones who hate. Who makes us uncomfortable? I noticed a couple of groups this week, one was some people who argue that selling sex for money is good, and the other was a group of who say that women shouldn’t be vicars, and have a strong desire to outline exactly what is proper for a woman to do. Both times I had an emotional revulsion that is different to just disagreeing. I wanted to shut them up rather than engaging, or agreeing to differ. It is those revulsions that tear our world apart, not disagreement, which can be generous and constructive. I needed to repent of those feelings, to recognise them for what they were and not justify them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the moment, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams is in India, and in a that sermon he preached he said:<o:p></o:p></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">"Sometimes we have listened to our own unconverted hearts and used the church of God for our own ends, welcoming people like us and rejecting those who make us uncomfortable. And when any of those things happens, the Church begins to fall apart. The wounds in the Body get wider and deeper, and we find ourselves giving great energy to justifying our decision not to be together. As we stop listening to one another, we stop listening to Christ. Whether this happens in the name of nationality or tradition or pride of achievement or purity of teaching, the effect is the same tragedy."</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So having decided that we are not going to be on the side that is revolted by people, but be will be on the side that includes people, what does that mean to us? Well I think it is Good News for two reasons:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first reason is that we are included. We are the foreigners, the Gentiles that Jesus is talking about. It is us that he loves and us to whom the Day of the Lord’s Favour has been announced. We are the ones who are released, healed, given sight to. For so many people there is the fear that if others knew what we were really like they would reject us, the fear deep down that we are unworthy, the reality that we can be nasty and we are ashamed. We can be oppressed by these fears, in prison if you like. Jesus wants to set us free. He knows what we are like and includes us anyway.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second reason that it is good news is that we have a job to do, and it is a great job. It is to make the entire world a better place. It is to go round freeing captives, healing the blind, helping the poor. We are to be Jesus’s disciples, covered in his dust, completely dedicated to the mission he has given us, wearing the Yoke of his teachings and enabling all to be included. Of course some people won’t like it, and it will make them very cross. But I can’t think of a better way of living my life than this.<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-16393722949348957642010-10-07T16:33:00.000+01:002010-10-07T16:33:55.998+01:00The Ten Lepers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWv9ntJjSra_7kCu1lkBXWJNFd0UK1lNzCNouXFmFw8t5xPs2T_CL3HiO6_fzh-RYzkRFoDhPJABglf5Q-OmI2Q0DLihu_zhSMNEI4Z4Kw1PX1B2XGo7Jd-gd3iaUiXrYg9NVcLXOWGs2/s1600/JesusHealsTenLepers6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWv9ntJjSra_7kCu1lkBXWJNFd0UK1lNzCNouXFmFw8t5xPs2T_CL3HiO6_fzh-RYzkRFoDhPJABglf5Q-OmI2Q0DLihu_zhSMNEI4Z4Kw1PX1B2XGo7Jd-gd3iaUiXrYg9NVcLXOWGs2/s320/JesusHealsTenLepers6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+17:11-19&version=NIV">Luke 17:11-19</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">A pastor starts each confirmation class with a jar full of beans. He asks his students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and on a big pad of paper writes down their estimates. Then, next to those estimates, he helps them make another list: Their favourite songs. When the lists are complete, he reveals the actual number of beans in the jar. The whole class looks over their guesses, to see which estimate was closest to being right. He then turns to the list of favourite songs. "And which one of these is closest to being right?" he asks. The students protest that there is no "right answer"; a person's favourite song is purely a matter of taste. He then asks "When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favourite song?" <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When I read the gospels, the stories are always odd in some way,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they perplex me. The gospels do not offer us rules, they give us something to wrestle with, to chew on. They are odd. The way of faith that Jesus offers is not prescriptive – it is more like our favourite song than the number of beans in a jar. Sometimes my atheist friends argue with me – they say the stories are so ambiguous in the Gospels that we can take anything from them. They say that the diversity of Christian beliefs is so varied that it is impossible to pin us down. Precisely, I want to say – it is a journey, not a destination. I offer that to you as a health warning for my sermons. When I preach I have been wrestling with a text for a week and I offer my musings for you to chew on, but they are just that – musings… not definitive rules. It is a journey of faith, not certainty, and I believe there are no right answers.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what about today’s passage – simple? Jesus heals ten lepers and only one comes back to say thanks and Jesus commends him – right? Well… my understanding is that all ten lepers had faith – they asked Jesus to heal them, he told them to show themselves to the priests and on the way they were healed, and so one of them failed to do what Jesus asked and came back to say thanks, and Jesus commended that man and said that his faith had saved him. Saved him from what? Not the leprosy is it? Anyway, what faith? Why does it take faith to go back and say thank-you?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mmm… so Jesus tells them to do something, one of them doesn’t and he gets commended? Oh and he is the disgusting foreigner who worships on the wrong mountain and has the wrong religion too. It reminds me of a parable by Pete Rollins, of a kind man in a city who one night is woken by someone knocking on his door. It is a man seeking refuge having done the unspeakable crime. He lets him in and goes to bed. Soon afterwards, more men are knocking at the door, they say that God’s law requires for the man to pay with his life for the unspeakable crime. The kind man tells then that he is well aware of God’s law but will not let the criminal be killed. He goes back to bed only to be woken by the elders of the city who command the kind man to release the criminal. The kind man is pretty determined and says no, and goes to bed. So finally, he hears a knocking at the door and when he opens it God is standing there. God demands that the kind man hands the criminal over, but the man refuses. He says that the God that he knows is compassionate and merciful, and he requires God to act within his character and to have mercy on the criminal. To this God replies, ‘you know me better than anyone in this city, and you are right not to release the criminal to me, you are a man of great faith'.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Last week the reading told us about how we can do amazing things with just a little faith. Today’s passage speaks to me of how we can break away from the crowd with a little faith. The ten lepers knew what they wanted and they wanted to be back in society and without their disease. They had enough faith to ask for a miracle, enough faith to move a mountain, and that was great. But the one leper had enough faith to break away from the crowd, break away from the law. When he was healed he didn’t want to go and show himself to the priests to fulfil the law, he wanted to celebrate, and to thank God, and thank Jesus. He was the only one who ended up truly free to be and do his heart’s desire. The nine lepers were saved from their disease, the Samaritan leper was saved from the law.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It reminds me of a passage in Chapter 3 of the book of Galatians:<o:p></o:p></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Paul is worried that the Galatians are missing the whole point, others are telling them that faith and freedom in Christ wasn’t enough – they had to abide by the Jewish law too. People usually take refuge in the law when they get frightened of living by faith. You know where you are with the law, but living by faith can be a bit of a risk. Is my faith one of following the rules? Is my God a hard task-master, or a loving and forgiving God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I one of the nine lepers, or am I like the Samaritan? Perhaps I need the courage to live by faith, perhaps the courage to be myself.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So may you know that God has given you the gift of faith<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">May you not be afraid but find salvation and freedom<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And may you know joy like the Samaritan Leper<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Amen</div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-2299218933185185092010-10-04T22:35:00.000+01:002010-10-04T22:35:54.525+01:00Harvest Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRA2Ujv6V5EggqeP-dyPr_7wGTdtfc0xBUi58MCUW15-bmHyrmxW1tSuWDtxG8aBMaYTQt5rLuOPxJfvs6aNYRbjDu2fxdtal0uLJLGioeogArgeVqKp_xTdN1U6eZEqEa9V2PeERRn67/s1600/P1010649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRA2Ujv6V5EggqeP-dyPr_7wGTdtfc0xBUi58MCUW15-bmHyrmxW1tSuWDtxG8aBMaYTQt5rLuOPxJfvs6aNYRbjDu2fxdtal0uLJLGioeogArgeVqKp_xTdN1U6eZEqEa9V2PeERRn67/s320/P1010649.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJfdvOj-pZqAlKYdEj46lQjlY2Mt2S9i6HyZIDRQTd60MDJ9D7J92y6_38hqdoJpvdFKnm9GlUvfcBAPyJkm-jB_8zHnI8WJisSRM3NdDkivZLIhkG81YkYz5K8BSzGJGuABvOxJIr4bR/s1600/church+harvest+festival+070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJfdvOj-pZqAlKYdEj46lQjlY2Mt2S9i6HyZIDRQTd60MDJ9D7J92y6_38hqdoJpvdFKnm9GlUvfcBAPyJkm-jB_8zHnI8WJisSRM3NdDkivZLIhkG81YkYz5K8BSzGJGuABvOxJIr4bR/s320/church+harvest+festival+070.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-90298515973528931202010-10-02T16:58:00.003+01:002010-10-04T22:02:16.197+01:00Harvest Sketch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqDERcCIbeuvK-O4aiT_5Q0OxHCxb3pfUUJ2SsgySaWYrqrT1jNKjwF5iK1EBjS6fZctfhPU0nl4QbdFtSnFFQLkraPUDmPgSYfEwbFpd2TKFqbs7staJN7OHj535isElltkp37bJWH55/s1600/church+harvest+festival+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqDERcCIbeuvK-O4aiT_5Q0OxHCxb3pfUUJ2SsgySaWYrqrT1jNKjwF5iK1EBjS6fZctfhPU0nl4QbdFtSnFFQLkraPUDmPgSYfEwbFpd2TKFqbs7staJN7OHj535isElltkp37bJWH55/s320/church+harvest+festival+042.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Need 7 people.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Props – boy needs a sandwich, mum needs a knife and Jam, shopkeeper needs a loaf in a bag, baker needs a loaf, miller needs some flour, businessman needs some grain, farmer needs a spade.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Based on ‘this is the house that Jack built – go along the line including more and more people. Point of the sketch is to give thanks for everyone and all that they do.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the world that God made.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the shopkeeper who sold the bread,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the jolly bread baker called Fred,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who supplied the shopkeeper who sold the bread,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the miller who milled flour so fine</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">For the jolly bread baker called Fred,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who supplied the shopkeeper who sold the bread,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the businessman who sold the grain at the right time<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the miller who milled flour so fine<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">For the jolly bread baker called Fred,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who supplied the shopkeeper who sold the bread,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">This is the farmer who frowned at the rain<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">And worked hard to harvest the grain<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">For the businessman who sold the grain at the right time<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the miller who milled flour so fine<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">For the jolly bread baker called Fred,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who supplied the shopkeeper who sold the bread,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">To the mum who made the sandwich to eat,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">That fed the boy called Pete<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">Who lives in the world that God made</span><o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-79993659276390691622010-09-30T16:51:00.000+01:002010-09-30T16:51:14.285+01:00Faith the size of a mustard seed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://gbcdecatur.org/files/MustardSeed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://gbcdecatur.org/files/MustardSeed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;"><br />
Luke 17:5-10 (New International Version)<br />
5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"<br />
6He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.<br />
7"Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I want to think a bit about faith. Let me tell you a story:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Jean François Gravelet, "The Great Charles Blondin", was a famous French tightrope walker and acrobat.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Blondin's greatest fame came in 1859 when he attempted to become the first person to cross the rushing and roaring waters of Niagara Falls on a tightrope.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">With a balancing pole, Charles Blondin walked across the 335m long tightrope in only five minutes. He went on to walk across the falls several times, each time with a different theatrical flair. Later crossings were made in a sack; on stilts; on a bicycle, in the dark with sparks flaring from his pole tips; with his hands and feet manacled; and sitting down halfway to cook an omelet!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On one such occasion a large crowd gathered as word went out that Blondin was going to attempt yet another incredible feat. A buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oooohed!” and “Aaaaahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across one dangerous step after another -- blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The crowd enthusiastically shouted, "Yes, yes, yes. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything!"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">"Okay," said Blondin, "Get in the wheelbarrow....."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No one did!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s one thing to believe, it's another thing to take a step of faith based on that belief. Belief must be followed by action if it is to take you where you want to go!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">How many sermons can you remember? Be honest…. I can’t remember many. But I remember one in particular one on Ephesians 2:7-9<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #274e13;">“In order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast</span>.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My vicar pointed out that the Bible tells us that faith is a gift from God. At the time I was struggling with my faith, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t work faith up in myself. You know the sort of thing – if I try really, really hard I can have more faith. Bit like saying ‘whatever you do – don’t think about pink elephants’. Some things simply don’t seem possible. I can remember the relief sinking into me as I realised.. its ok.. faith is a gift… it isn’t my fault that I don’t have much faith. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am a horrible sceptic at times. I know some people have others come up to them and say ‘I wish I had your faith’. No one ever says that to me!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I can be a bit like Woody Allen, who said, ‘I would believe if only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank.’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Or another of Woody Allen’s sayings: ‘How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?’</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, when I heard stories like the one about the tightrope and the wheelbarrow I felt guilty. But I don’t any more. You see I believe that God gives us faith. Perhaps it is only a tiny, tiny amount, like a mustard seed, which was the tiniest seed. But that tiny amount can do amazing things.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have been inspired by a friend of mine who has improved the public health of the UK without hardly anyone noticing. (Some people clearly have noticed, because he is a bit older than me, and has already received a lifetime achievement award). It hasn't been without sacrifice. He has been threatened by big multinational companies and feared at times that he would lose his house.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He is a lobbyist. Not the sort that stands outside with placards, but the sort that does careful research and meets with people who can change things. He is a politician, in the sense that he is very political, saying that politics is about carefully working through your argument, and seeing things from the perspectives of others, especially those who oppose you.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">How do you think our food in the UK came to be labelled with the calories, fat content and salt content? How do you think 'Healthy Eating' became a big issue in our schools? How is it that childhood obesity is now reducing? These things were, in my opinion, achieved by my friend, and of course his friends, and by lobbying and politics.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">With a bit of faith, little people like me and you can make a massive difference in the world. For me, I desperately want the Church of England to change. I want it to be radically inclusive, as this is how I see Jesus in the Gospels. I long for complete and unequivocal equality between men and women, between gay and straight people, between married and divorced people. I also want to help save the planet, I want to see the parsonages and churches in our diocese carbon neutral.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Has God given you a tiny bit of faith? I bet God has. Did you know that with that tiny bit of faith you can tell mulberry bushes to go and take a running jump, or to move mountains…. Seriously, it is amazing what can be done. I have been working on a little project myself recently.. for a year, I suppose, and now it is gathering momentum, and all I have done is some research and I have talked to people about it.. at every opportunity. The galling thing is that no one really knows that it is me that has started the ball rolling. There is no glory in it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And that leads me to the second part of the reading. So often we get offended if we aren’t thanked and acknowledged, if we don’t get the glory, and if it doesn’t turn out exactly as we envisaged. But that stands in the way of progress, I believe. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think we all want God’s kingdom to come on earth, sometimes it is our pride that clogs the whole thing up. We need to just see it as something ordinary, that we are like servants, put on this earth to do our bit. And whether that bit is at work or in the home or in the community or in the nation, whether it is to do with spiritual things or material things, all of it is part of our calling, and it is better if we are simply satisfied that the job is done rather than requiring praise from others.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So may you know that you have the gift of faith<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And that a tiny amount of faith can move mountains<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And may your faith and mine make this world a better place for all<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Amen.<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-22332421942619552712010-09-23T15:46:00.001+01:002010-09-23T16:58:38.437+01:00Rich man and Lazarus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.artst.org/images/northern-renaissance/large/frans_francken_the_younger/11724214_The%20Parable%20of%20the%20Rich%20Man%20and%20Lazarus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.artst.org/images/northern-renaissance/large/frans_francken_the_younger/11724214_The%20Parable%20of%20the%20Rich%20Man%20and%20Lazarus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+16:19-31">Luke 16:19-31</a><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps it is as a result of doing work on a listed building, but I love that joke that goes ‘How many English Heritage workers does it take to change a lightbulb?’ …. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">CHANGE????<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have heard a few Christian versions of this too:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Charismatics : 10<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Free Church: At least 15.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Church of England: 3<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about how much better the old one was.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mormons : 5<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">……………<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sorry, back to the passage, which I feel is about change, but not really about lightbulbs. Let’s look at the passage in a bit more detail. Many of you will know that I don’t believe in Hell. Personally, I feel God has got to be more compassionate, loving and forgiving than me, and the notion of Hell doesn’t stack up for me. I also feel that in the Bible, passages such as this one are interpreted as Jesus teaching about Hell, but I feel that is a misunderstanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Many scholars believe that Jesus is drawing upon a popular Jewish folk tale that had roots in Egypt about a rich man and poor man whose lots after death are completely reversed. The parable doesn't have to be true in all its particulars, but the people can relate to its stereotyped characters -- rich man, poor man, and Father Abraham. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The story has some surprising elements – the first is that the rich man and poor man have their fortunes reversed. The second is that the Rich Man doesn’t have a name, but the poor man does – Lazarus. Mentioning the name gives a sense that the poor man is more important than the rich man. And finally, the culture at the time felt that riches were a sign of God’s blessing and poverty a sign of sin. Hence when Jesus said ‘it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than a rich man get into heaven’, the disciples were amazed – if a rich man can’t get into heaven, then who can?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus suggests that the prophets all through the ages have pleaded with the people to share their riches, and the people have taken no notice. Furthermore, even if he dies and is raised from the dead, people will take no notice of the message. They won’t change. Well that is pretty depressing. I like to think that Jesus was just feeling frustrated, and that we aren’t all destined to continuously behave poorly without changing for ever. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So do we change? And what would we want to change?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve heard quite a bit about money recently. I was listening to the Jeremy Vine show, where a Marxist and a Capitalist were having a right verbal fisty-cuffs. What they did agree on was that the economy was messed up this time by cynical, unregulated greed. That in the past people bought shares in companies because they believed in them, now it is simply about making a quick buck. Also, money was leant to people who could never pay it back, on the gamble that when their houses were repossessed, the money would be recouped that way. Very nasty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I also went to a lecture by Bishop Peter Selby who has published a book about the Biblical model for handling our money. The Bible is very clear that no interest should be paid on loans at all. He said that we needed to reinterpret these things for a modern society, and he also said the Bible was far clearer about sins to do with money than it is about things like homosexuality, and yet we all happily get mortgages, at the same time as condemning people with different sexual ethics than ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also heard that the most fair society would be one where we all together agreed the rules, the wages, the terms, and then instantly died and were raised again randomly into a job, a country, a social grouping not of our choosing. The idea being that we wouldn’t mind who we were raised to be if it was all equal.<o:p></o:p></span></div></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I believe that we are happiest if we share what we have, if we restrict how much we owe and if we limit our greed. I feel I am probably preaching to the converted here, but perhaps today is a day when you would like to review how much you share of you money and how ethical your investments and borrowings are. But please promise me that if you do review this, that you won’t do it out of guilt. I think guilt is a horrible reason to share our wealth, doing it out of an overflowing of compassion and love makes us joyful givers. Perhaps before giving we need to ask God for the gift of compassion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have heard it said that the last part of a man to be converted is his wallet. I must say I don’t really believe it. I think each one of us have sticking points. For some it is money, perhaps because they are afraid of poverty, perhaps because of parental messages. But not all of us have the same places where we get stuck, where we never change, where it seems that the stuck-ness has such immense power over us that even if someone came back from the dead it wouldn’t shift. Let me tell you a story:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In India Elephants are very useful for moving logs and generally shifting stuff, and that is what they do during the day, but they are very powerful creatures, and what do you do with them at night? How do you know that they aren't going to crush houses in the village etc? Well, when they are very small they are chained to metal posts by very large chains, and as much as they want to wander off, they can't. As they get older the chain is made smaller and smaller, until as adults, the elephants can be tethered by slipping a thin cord around it's neck and throwing it over a fence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For us, sometimes things like the fear of poverty or the fear that we are not good enough are like the ropes that hold the elephants. Our negative beliefs tether us. We would like to change, we would like to be free, but we feel we can’t. Do you know which areas they are for you? Do you get stuck over money, or something else? I find for myself that one of the benefits of getting older is being aware of the buttons that people can press to set me off. The sad thing is I am not resolving them at the same rate at which I am discovering them, and so I am ever more aware of my sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The good news is, I think, that when we admit to ourselves, to God and sometimes to others the places where we are stuck, they often lose their power, and we can begin to change. The old fashioned word for this is repentance. I believe this gives us freedom, freedom from sin, from the things that make us stuck, and freedom to have life in all its fullness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So may you know the power of the risen Jesus to change you<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">May you be honest with yourself before God<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And may your money always be a blessing to you and to others<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen<o:p></o:p></span></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-69531231076558849902010-09-11T17:08:00.000+01:002010-09-11T17:08:53.767+01:00Lost Sheep and Lost Coin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/youth/Lostcoin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/youth/Lostcoin.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+15:1-10">Luke 15:1-10</a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">These stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin show me that I have a long way to go in terms of my understanding of God. Let me try to explain:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Jesus is trying to give an idea about what God is like. If you or I were trying to do this, what would we say? Perhaps we would identify a strong and wise father, who loves his children, who has time for them and nurtures them? Perhaps we would associate God with a teacher, strict but fair, endlessly encouraging us to do better. Perhaps God is distant and a bit cool, holy and awesome and judgemental. What is God like? All-powerful? All-knowing? Purposeful? Unchanging? Perhaps God is kind, forgiving, tender. Does God prefer upright people, or people with loose morals? What does Jesus say God is like?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">First he chooses a shepherd. Now shepherds were the lowest of the low in society, they had a rubbish job, out on the hillsides, wandering looking for pasture for the sheep that normally belonged to someone else. The shepherds had to lie in the gateway of sheep folds at night to protect the flock from wolves, people didn’t queue up to take these jobs. Furthermore, shepherds were reputed to be light fingered, perhaps no surprise as they were so poor. I imagine shepherds as young boys, their first job being looking after sheep. Is all this a natural image for God? Furthermore, the shepherd boy that Jesus chooses isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. No one would leave ninety-nine sheep unattended to look for one; goodness knows how many more he will lose. Jesus listeners would feel incredulous at this point in the parable. How is God like a stupid shepherd boy?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To make matters worse, Jesus then suggests God is like a woman. The ten coins would probably be her dowry, and so she would be merely a young teenage girl, poor too, so if she lost her dowry she would not be able to marry and have no security. We can see she is poor because she has to light a lamp, peasant houses normally didn’t have any windows, Desperately, she sweeps, cursing herself for losing something so vital.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I wonder whether we would see God in a dim shepherd boy, or in a careless young girl. These two events could have been the most stupid things they ever did. If we were their mum or dad, I doubt we would be too impressed. But Jesus sees things differently; he has compassion on them and in their actions sees the purity of their desire to find the thing that is missing and their vulnerability in having lost something.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know whether you can bring to mind a time when you have been stupid lately? Something where the memory of it makes your toes curl, and if you recounted the story you would be very embarrassed. I am afraid I have so many to choose from. Take a moment to remember the event and how you felt. If you really can’t then perhaps it is easier to remember something that your children have done that is unwise, or perhaps something you did as a child that was mistaken. There is the sting of embarrassment of having made a mistake, especially if it is exposed. But is that how God sees us? Is it possible that God sees our good intentions, our hopes and desires, however misguided? Is it possible that God has masses more patience and kindness than us and even in our lowest moments can be used as a metaphor for an aspect of God? The passage speaks to me about how in my anxiety to be better and my hopes for my kids to make good choices, I fail to see aspects of God in myself or in them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Talking about children and their mistakes, I was sent something this week that made me laugh:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And the first thing he said was 'DON'T!' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Don't what? 'Adam replied. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Don't eat the forbidden fruit.' God said. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Hey Eve.. we have forbidden fruit ! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'No Way! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Yes way! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Do NOT eat the fruit!' said God. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Why? ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Because I am your Father and I said so!'God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">‘Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit?' God asked. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Uh huh,' Adam replied. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Then why did you? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>said the Father. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'I don't know,' said Eve. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'She started it!' Adam said. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Did not! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Did too! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">'DID NOT! ' <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, going back to the parable.. Do you ever feel lost? I relate quite well to feeling lost. I wonder whether we all do. My earliest memory is in fact about being lost in a supermarket in Helsinki. I was three, and spoke no Finnish, and I was surrounded by people jabbering at me. Eventually, they started to take me out of the store. I was terrified. I didn’t realise that it was a real memory until years later when my mum told me the story, for me it had been a recurring nightmare. I think being lost is one of the most horrible feelings. It is interesting that Freud talks about humans suffer from the ‘trauma of self-consciousness’. We are different to the animal kingdom, because we are aware that we will suffer and die, that earthquakes and floods can overwhelm us, that disease may suddenly strike us, that we don’t know what to do for the best. In a sense we are all lost. Freud says that we have invented religion to cope with this lost-ness. Perhaps in some senses we have, we obey superstitions or read horoscopes to deny our powerlessness and try to regain control.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">However, I believe that whilst we sometimes do religion out of fear, at other times we accept our lost-ness and our trauma and start to sense that we genuinely are not alone, but within the arms of a loving God.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Have you heard the story of the man who was walking in the mountains just enjoying the scenery when he stepped too close to the edge of the mountain and started to fall? In desperation he reached out and grabbed a limb of a gnarly old tree hanging onto the side of the cliff. Full of fear he assessed his situation. He was about 100 feet down a sheer cliff and about 900 feet from the floor of the canyon below. If he should slip again he'd plummet to his death. Full of fear, he cried out, "Help me!" But there was no answer. Again and again he cried out but to no avail.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally he yelled, "Is anybody up there?"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">A deep voice replied, "Yes, I'm up here."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Who is it?"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"It's the Lord"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Can you help me?"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Yes, I can help."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Help me!"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Let go."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Looking around the man became full of panic. "What?!?!"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Let go. I will catch you."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">After thinking for a moment, the man called out:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"Is anybody else up there?"<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think that whilst we all do feel lost on occasion, the parable encourages us to believe that God searches for us, that God wishes to find us, and sometimes we have to let go, accept our lost-ness and our fears, and it is only then that we sense God’s love.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is interesting that Jesus uses a metaphor for God that is male and then one that is female. If you are lost, do you want to be found by the shepherd boy, strong and capable to put you across his shoulders, or do you want to be held tenderly by the young girl? Possibly both? In the 23<sup>rd</sup> Psalm we also see both male and female aspects of God. In that culture the shepherds would be male, but if you look carefully, you find that God, in the psalm, also lays the table, a job that would be done by a woman. God exhibits the roles and characteristics that we attribute to both men and women. I fear that we miss the feminine ones that are often unseen, like happening upon a table that has been laid with nutritious food, or opening a drawer and finding clothes neatly washed and ironed. (I think I am talking to my sons at this point!) I also fear that in failing to see feminine aspects in God, we downplay the worth of those who do these things in our society.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, the real purpose of these parables is to have a go at the Pharisees, and tell them that God cares about the lost as well as the found, cares about those outside, those who are sinners, those who are despised. It challenges us to serve a God who is compassionate about weakness, a God who relates to us when we make mistakes, a God who doesn't play it safe, he goes out to seek the lost, and she desires deeply to find us because we are precious to her. Who is the God we serve, and what impact does that have on us?<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-63806493211328773772010-08-19T11:25:00.001+01:002010-08-19T11:25:17.035+01:00Test PagePlease ignore this...Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-9950968305986977342010-08-06T08:40:00.000+01:002010-08-06T08:40:00.359+01:00Brill Home Group<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/prophet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/prophet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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The Wednesday evening home group that meets at the Vicarage, will be looking at the writings of six short Old Testament prophets next term. Actually, I don't know whether the prophets were short but certainly their wrtings were! It will be interesting to discover what these men, who lived two and a half thousand years ago, might have to say to us and our society today. I have a suspicion that, human nature being what it is, there might be some interesting parallels . You are welcome to join us- 8.00 pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month. TinaLesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-5943917948489191702010-08-05T08:25:00.000+01:002010-08-05T08:25:00.312+01:00Chilton Thanks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3JOVq1oO1sBJIlK51yD43xvnWGtOMM_JE1ApKaS52f97WHVT4kbEJFTfBaMeXS1Uwmqp4shEshsBmwVlGa744_TVdg8Cb5Yy0EYNgeCl-WY4WnKe6NiTP-vcar1Y3QZ5ICY-MYIMwd5D/s1600/P1010494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3JOVq1oO1sBJIlK51yD43xvnWGtOMM_JE1ApKaS52f97WHVT4kbEJFTfBaMeXS1Uwmqp4shEshsBmwVlGa744_TVdg8Cb5Yy0EYNgeCl-WY4WnKe6NiTP-vcar1Y3QZ5ICY-MYIMwd5D/s320/P1010494.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div><br />
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</div><div>On Thursday evening at Townhill in Chilton the PCC and clergy came together to give a heartfelt thanks to three members of the congregation who have served the church fathfully for many, many years. Peggy Beard has been doing beautiful flower arrangements for over fifty years. Lyn Clarke has also helped with the flowers and has been instrumental in organising choirs and silver bands to come and play and sing at the annual church carol service and George Baker has opened and locked the church door every day for over fifteen years. It was calculated that George will have walked up and down that steep church path some 8000 times!! It was also noted that the combined ages of the three was over 240 years. Wow! </div><div>Best wishes to Bob abd Lyn Clarke as they prepare to move from Easington , down the hill to Long Crendon. We hope that we will still see them at times in Chilton Church.</div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-75416688663873751472010-08-04T08:21:00.000+01:002010-08-04T08:21:51.548+01:00Sermon Luke 12:32-40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amritbindu.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tenvirgins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.amritbindu.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tenvirgins.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #134f5c;">Luke 12: 32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.</span></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #134f5c;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #134f5c;">35"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."</span></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I imagine that many of you have heard the story of the lecturer who, at the beginning of term got a glass tube, and he filled it, first with some sand, and then with some pebbles, and then with some larger stones. Only he couldn’t fit the larger stones in. He explained that the sand was the trivial stuff – I guess the parties and watching telly, the pebbles were perhaps acquaintances and joining clubs, and the stones – well I’m sure if I were him I would be talking about getting the essays in, but anyway – the important stuff in life. And I wonder whether for you and me there are stones out here that are important that we can’t fit into our lives?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, as I am sure you have anticipated, what he then did was to get an identical tube, and put in first the stones, and then the pebbles, and then the sand, and to top it all he then cracked open a can of beer and poured that in and said that if the students got it right the could get everything done and still enjoy the odd beer.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">What has this got to do with today’s reading? Well Jesus says ‘fear not – it is the father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom of Heaven’. All the stones – all the good things in life are yours and mine already. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? Well it is the place where God’s rule is evident – it is the place where we experience love, joy, peace, kindness. The Kingdom is given to us – the poor in spirit – the common people, it is ours. Jesus also asks us to seek first the Kingdom of God, or heaven, and all our everyday concerns will be met. He asks us to make the kingdom of heaven the first stone and trust that the rest will follow.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">But have we got space for it in our lives? Does it fit in? Do we sense that we, day by day, live in the kingdom? If not – why not? I once heard of a man who asked a wise friend a question:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">"If you had to give me one piece of advice, what would it be?" And this is what he said. "You must eliminate hurry from your life." And there was a long pause. Then the man said, "Okay, yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got that. I wrote that down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What else?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Nothing else. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">If you look at the life of Jesus, you will see a person who was busy but never hurried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had many things to do. But as He went through life, He was always able to love the people that came into His life. He was never hurried. You cannot love in a hurry.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">A young disciple had heard of a great and wise Abba who lived at the top of a mountain in a cave. He trekked up the mountain to see the Abba and when he got there the wise man motioned for him to sit down. The young man sat with great expectancy to hear the words of the Abba. For an hour they sat in silence, the young man desperate to have some reward for his long and arduous trek. Another hour passed and another and the man started to fret that he wouldn’t receive any wisdom before he needed to trek back down. So he expressed his frustration to the old man. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Abba stood up and in his cave he had very few belongings, but he did have a jug, full of water and a bowl. He set the bowl before the young man and poured in the water. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">‘What can you see?’ asked the Abba<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">‘Muddy water’ replied the young man<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Again the Abba fell silent and twenty minutes passed<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">‘Now what can you see?’ asked the Abba<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">‘I can see my reflection’ replied the young man.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Kingdom of heaven may be ours, but we don’t have time to receive it. Don’t have time to be silent before God, don’t have time to pray, don’t have time to grow spiritually, don’t have time to be part of the Christian community.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I am sure you have heard the story of the man who went to his priest and asked why he was feeling so cold, so far from God. The priest simply got the fire tongs and took one of the coals out of the fire and put it on the hearth. The coal went from burning white hot to red hot to black. The priest then put it back in the fire. And within minutes it was on fire again. We need each other. I need you lot. The spiritual journey is not undertaken alone. Don’t underestimate the impact on others of not being part of the community. Everyone here, and more to the point, everyone who is not here, is a part of the body, we need them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I am as guilty as anyone with not having time. One thing I have learned is the more things I have, the less time I have. Every object needs to be bought, cleaned, looked after, fixed.. The bigger my house and garden it, the worse it gets too. It is with immense relief when I get rid of things – the best was the motorhome, which needed loads of care. Sometimes it feels like the game is ‘who dies with the most things wins’. The problem is, if we do that, we won’t have our treasure in heaven, we will have it in on earth instead.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">James Dobson tells this story about how he learnt this lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I learned how to play Monopoly from my grandmother. She was a wonderful person. She raised six children. She was a widow by the time that I knew her. But she was the most ruthless Monopoly player I have ever known in my life. She understood that the name of the game was to acquire. When she played and I got my initial money from the bank, I would just try to hold onto it, because I didn't want to lose any of it. She spent everything, bought stuff she landed on as soon as she could, and she'd mortgage it to buy more stuff. And eventually, of course, the way the game goes, eventually she would accumulate everything. She would be the master of the board. She understood that money was how you keep score in that game, that possessions were a matter of survival. And she beat me every time. And at the end of the game she would look at me and she'd say, "One day you'll learn how to play the game."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">She was kind of cocky, my grandmother. "One day you'll learn how to play the game."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was about ten, I played every day with a kid that lived in our neighborhood, and it dawned on me as we were playing every day all through that summer the only way to beat somebody in Monopoly was a total commitment to acquisition. That summer I learned how to play the game. And by the time autumn rolled around, I was more ruthless by far than even my grandmother. I went to play her, and I was willing to do anything to win. I was willing to bend the rules. I played with sweaty palms. Slowly, cunningly I exposed the soft underbelly of my grandmother's weakness. Relentlessly, inexorably I drove her off the board. The game does strange things to you. I can still remember like yesterday. I looked at my grandmother.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the person who taught me how to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was an old woman by now. She was a widow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had raised my mother. She loved me. And I took everything she had. I destroyed her financially and psychologically. I watched her give her last dollar and quit in utter defeat. This was the greatest moment of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then she had one more thing to teach me, my grandmother. Then she said to me, "Now it all goes back in the box.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">It all goes back in the box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of the houses and hotels, Mayfair and Park Lane, all of those railway stations and utilities, all of that wonderful money. It all goes back in the box," she said. But I didn't want it all to go back in the box. I wanted to leave the board out permanently -- bronze it maybe, as a memorial to what I had achieved. See, when she said, "It all goes back in the box," it was kind of a way of saying to me, "None of it's really yours. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">It doesn't belong to you. You don't own any of it. You just used it for a little while, and now it all goes back in the box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And next time it'll all go to somebody else. That's the way the game works. So when you play the game, don't forget this one lesson. When the game comes to an end, and the game always comes to an end, the stuff all goes back in the box."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I would ask us to consider whether you are experiencing the kingdom of heaven.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Are we too hurried?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Are we able to know love, joy, peace, patience in your relationships?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Are we finding time to pray?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Are we meeting with other Christians to grow spiritually?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Are we giving some of our money away?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">If not – are you experiencing the kingdom of heaven, or is the kingdom of heaven a stone that often doesn’t fit in to the glass tube?<o:p></o:p></div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-53640462630216555932010-07-31T09:13:00.000+01:002010-07-31T09:13:07.531+01:00Wedding Sermon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.walyou.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wedding.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Well congratulations to Alison and Lee, getting married today. Here is my address:<br />
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<b>Intro – only love counts for anything</b><br />
The reading we heard from the bible is a beautiful one.. it is written by St Paul and generally he is hard to understand.. however, somehow, in the middle of this letter to the Corinthians this rather stilted and unintelligible single man manages to come up with this most beautiful love poem… when I look at poems about love, about the essence of love, that word that we find so difficult to explain, I don’t find a better description than this. He says is only love that counts for anything, in the final analysis – if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.<br />
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<b>We seek love</b><br />
We are nothing without love, without love our lives are empty, form the cradle to the grave we seek to give and receive love, we seek mutual unconditional acceptance, we seek to comfort and to be comforted, we seek to know and to be known completely.<br />
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<b>Hard calling</b><br />
But love is a hard calling… it is a place for heroes and not cowards, for love involves some part of us dying, it involves putting away masks, and being vulnerable, it involves weakness in the hope that the other will not despise us, it involves trust and an ability to withstand being wounded without becoming hard. And it can only survive in a place of mutuality and intimacy, if it was not accepted and cherished would simply be crushed. It takes two to make a relationship grow and thrive. In this passage it is possible to take the word love and replace it with our names:<br />
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4 Alison is patient; Lee is kind; Alison is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. Lee does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; 6 she does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 He bears all things, believes all things, she hopes all things, endures all things.<br />
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<b>Love makes us alive</b><br />
Without love we are not truly alive. It is love that brings the highest joy and the deepest grief. I hope that all of us can think of someone who loved us unconditionally, perhaps a parent or a kind friend. Perhaps they are no longer with us and we regret their passing. And thinking perhaps about the love that a mother has for her children, then I believe that love is truly eternal, if we ever loved at all and that love was ever of any substance then it is eternal.<br />
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<b>Love is for all of us – a gift from God</b><br />
So love is wider than marriage.. love is for all of us.. if we can open our hearts. Few weddings happen in church any more.. and yet for those of us who are Christians, everything is all about love.. and so it seems to me entirely appropriate that these two people are making this commitment in this place before the God of love and asking those who they love to support them on this wonderful and sometimes scary journey ahead.<br />
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We ask God to teach us to love and to know God’s love, we ask God’s blessing on all of us, but in particular we ask that Alison and Lee will know God’s love in the highs and the lows, that they will spend their lives loving one another ever more deeply and that we will help them and hold them in this quest. AmenLesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3558495908217335069.post-37814934644536450312010-07-22T08:00:00.000+01:002010-07-22T08:00:05.071+01:00Ancient Yew Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1gu3r7J8tM7bBsFsoWJ9KVb9z_9tKhmxCwaGpZFSfQwdRpz9pUWUit1PQFXY03u8MGw7JusZYMiF2fuMhBNRIkMlt4syRA7frOQiqPA-BRfPU5RaJPpJHuxOAg1RasCH0pBv5UTqjbW_/s1600/P1010445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1gu3r7J8tM7bBsFsoWJ9KVb9z_9tKhmxCwaGpZFSfQwdRpz9pUWUit1PQFXY03u8MGw7JusZYMiF2fuMhBNRIkMlt4syRA7frOQiqPA-BRfPU5RaJPpJHuxOAg1RasCH0pBv5UTqjbW_/s320/P1010445.JPG" width="245" /></a></div><br />
I was recently at Lambeth Palace for a day meeting with other green fanatics and agencies. These included Russell Ball from '<a href="http://www.ancient-yew.org/">The Ancient Yew Group</a>'. Apparently, Veteran Yews are 350-1000 years old, and Ancient Yews are 1000-5000 years old, which by any standards is staggeringly old. Yew trees have had a troubled life in the last few hundred years, being cut down to make long bows so we can kill each other. And the few that are left in this country are generally in churchyards. Now Russell is very keen that we don't kill off any more of the Yew trees and suggested that if we have any in our churchyards that we get a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_preservation_order">Tree Preservation Order</a> for them. This not only protects them for the next generation, but also enables people to obtain free expert advice if there are any issues with the tree.<br />
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Those of us who attended the day wandered through Archbishop Rowan William's garden and planted a baby Yew tree. I hope he doesn't mind. Here are some more photos:<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUI3DSSwqWLgPFhDOsbNXJlMY2kpNbKD7s1b1cV6mXj37bkEoOQDXkEnZTx3isVzhJIHUWEHgmhjhK7jAthP5FjHVGMIPCHqUaLGtUpt9yuH2NayVzJI0Pi0jaPTZ2iAmFqDGEjb0i8oUm/s1600/P1010439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUI3DSSwqWLgPFhDOsbNXJlMY2kpNbKD7s1b1cV6mXj37bkEoOQDXkEnZTx3isVzhJIHUWEHgmhjhK7jAthP5FjHVGMIPCHqUaLGtUpt9yuH2NayVzJI0Pi0jaPTZ2iAmFqDGEjb0i8oUm/s200/P1010439.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqo6sZ_3iwf2OExzIFsPNo4pplyG9q-ml7_ESMlHwG8Ia_zRYvUaf8eEBH745hcHaxKn0KlRRCSYDrmqBjiu7RKHJY5tITSwi9n8D0-kJHYjOE5jFfO_-Z0HEfnz-6G0hUJ2BQfpERbgLC/s1600/P1010440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqo6sZ_3iwf2OExzIFsPNo4pplyG9q-ml7_ESMlHwG8Ia_zRYvUaf8eEBH745hcHaxKn0KlRRCSYDrmqBjiu7RKHJY5tITSwi9n8D0-kJHYjOE5jFfO_-Z0HEfnz-6G0hUJ2BQfpERbgLC/s200/P1010440.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5sa4Z1GHPHwW0mVwGN_1MpJz3HmVXZAY-RRZWheC4N3QAypvtNj7WI5m04SInOkvaKrQpYbOu8VJBzeH90Vf4bGEj2mpf17dTpmNMUI7SycR7zwYcOU9-MhMmrOYsdUgXW3zkNKUv3hi/s1600/P1010441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5sa4Z1GHPHwW0mVwGN_1MpJz3HmVXZAY-RRZWheC4N3QAypvtNj7WI5m04SInOkvaKrQpYbOu8VJBzeH90Vf4bGEj2mpf17dTpmNMUI7SycR7zwYcOU9-MhMmrOYsdUgXW3zkNKUv3hi/s200/P1010441.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5sa4Z1GHPHwW0mVwGN_1MpJz3HmVXZAY-RRZWheC4N3QAypvtNj7WI5m04SInOkvaKrQpYbOu8VJBzeH90Vf4bGEj2mpf17dTpmNMUI7SycR7zwYcOU9-MhMmrOYsdUgXW3zkNKUv3hi/s1600/P1010441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfxxOtoNZmSJ4VE9OEy06DRY5vQtoOzur603vst9ZHpH94webq_rIvYXxPNcAFZtwMs8NnFM4DmZPW71mKqdPj1fhqQ74639QKFXwouQYMj1uXhI7DaheNRulEH0Rt-w0gpswpRSe131u/s1600/P1010442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfxxOtoNZmSJ4VE9OEy06DRY5vQtoOzur603vst9ZHpH94webq_rIvYXxPNcAFZtwMs8NnFM4DmZPW71mKqdPj1fhqQ74639QKFXwouQYMj1uXhI7DaheNRulEH0Rt-w0gpswpRSe131u/s200/P1010442.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Lesleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17228191583982936566noreply@blogger.com0