5th Sunday of August Healing Service

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus: Mark 10:46-52

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁸48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁹49 Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ ⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹51 Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher,^* let me see again.’ ⁵² Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” *

It is, I think fair to say that every person will approach passages of scripture from their own perspective.  Some will find depths within the passages, others may not see.  On other occasions, we will get an insight into something we had not thought of before, even though we may know the passage very well.  This is I believe the work, or prompting, of the Holy Spirit.  Each revelation has its own purpose and meaning.  If we listen, the Spirit has a way of speak to us, just the words we need, when we need them.

Today we have a healing service, so remember always, that there is a difference between healing and curing.  We often confuse the two terms.  If we understand that healing is something that affects our spirit, our beings.  We may need healing for a past emotional hurt; or to help us come to accept the existence of an illness, disease or condition that may be with us for the rest of our earthly lives.  To be cured of an illness, disease or condition means that it has been completely removed from our physical bodies.  We can then see curing is something most often performed by the medical profession.  Miracles excepted, of course!  If we use these two terms in this way, then we can see that it is possible to be healed, and not be cured, of the illness, disease or condition we are suffering from.

In Mark’s telling of the healing we know a lot about Bartimaeus.  He was Timaeus’ son.  He was blind.  He was a beggar.  He lived outside Jericho.  He had a loud voice.  He knew who Jesus was.  He was not afraid to call out.  He knew he needed Jesus’ healing touch.

Does this sound like any of us? We have things in common with Bartimaeus.  We are someone’s child, we know who Jesus is, and we are, in some way also needing God’s healing touch.  Bartimaeus sought his healing through God’s mercy.  Do we also seek God’s mercy?  Are we certain that we can attain God’s mercy?  Do we perhaps prefer to listen to ourselves, or those around us who make us feel unloved, rather than seeking God’s love and mercy?

* Scripture is from: ‘New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.’

Do you shrink back from reaching out to God?  Do you think it is safer to be lost in the crowd?  Bartimaeus did not think or do this, nor should we.  Healing comes through seeking God’s mercy, not shrinking from it.  When Bartimaeus knew Jesus was near, and could have mercy on him, he shouted, standing out from the crowd.

Jesus heard Bartimaeus calling out to him and stopped.  Jesus told the crowd to call Bartimaeus forward.  The crowd listened and then encouraged Bartimaeus to go forward.  Perhaps there are times when we call out, but are not so certain that we have been heard.  We expect a response, a reply to our calling out.  When what we expect does not happen, how and when we want it, then we become disillusioned and perhaps even abandon our faith.

Bartimaeus did not know he had been heard.  It was the crowd around him, which told him to take heart.  Moreover, when Bartimaeus was called he went.  There was no hesitation, no delay no question.  He held fast to his faith.

Do we do the same?  Perhaps in love and mercy, God has answered your call for healing and you did not hear it?  Did you delay, question or just simply ignore the reply?  Be attentive for the reply (others may tell you of it) and then be decisive - go and do.  Hold onto your faith.  Remember, Bartimaeus took decisive action when he sought, and heard, God’s mercy.

St Mark tells us a lot about that Bartimaeus’ healing.  He received his sight, after Jesus had told him he was healed.  Jesus spoke the words of healing - Mark does not say Jesus touched Bartimaeus.  Then Bartimaeus followed Jesus along the road.

His faith that Jesus could heal him was all that Bartimaeus needed to be healed.  When we read this, it seems so simple.  Yet we like to make it all a lot more complicated for ourselves, why?  Perhaps we are not certain of our faith.  Perhaps we look for an ‘insurance policy”, a “backup plan.”  Just in case!  Bartimaeus was not content to be healed and then go back to his old place, his back up plan.  He was healed and so he started a new journey.  Is this our experience?  Is this what we do?  Do we follow along the road?

If it was our faith that brought us to God, to seek God’s mercy, love, and healing, surely we can do nothing else but be certain.  To do otherwise is to doubt.  So take heart, start, or re-start your faith journey.  It is a wonderful, mysterious and loving trip.

Remember, it was Bartimaeus’ faith that healed him.

Amen.

The Lord's My Shepherd!

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B:

The Lord's My Shepherd!

Mark's Gospel this weekend (6:30-34) describes the return of the disciples from their first mission and inauguration into apostleship. They are exhilarated and exhausted, and have stories to tell Jesus of healings, exorcisms, and the effectiveness of their preaching the good news. Perhaps there were darker stories of their failure and rejection that they need to process privately with Jesus their master and teacher. Whatever the need, Jesus senses that his disciples need a break. They are tired, overstimulated, underfed, and in need of some prayerful healing solitude.

Jesus, himself, is not in top form. He has just lost John the Baptist, his beloved cousin and prophet, the one who had baptised him and had spent a lifetime in the wilderness preparing his way. Worse, Jesus has lost him to murder by Herod, a terrifying reminder that God's beloved are not immune to senseless, violent deaths. Maybe for Jesus his own end, feels closer. It is possible, he is grieved and heartbroken. He says to his disciples as the crowds throng around them at the edge of the Sea of Galilee "You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest a while." In the words "Come away" I hear both tenderness and longing. Yes, Jesus wants to provide a time of rest and recuperation for his friends. But he is weary, himself; the need that he articulates here is also his own.

In this event, I get a chance to glimpse the human life of Jesus, a life I can relate to easily. His need to withdraw, his desire for solitary prayer, his physical hunger, his sleepiness, his inclination to hide. These glimpses take nothing away from Jesus' divinity; they enhance it, making it richer and all the more mysterious. They remind me that the doctrine of the Incarnation truly is Christianity's best gift to the world. The God 'through whom all things were made' as the creed professes: hungers, sleeps, eats, rests, withdraws, and grieves. In all of these ordinary but necessary ways, our God is like us. He's also like us in that sometimes, his best-laid plans go astray. The needy crowd anticipate his plan, and follow on foot. By the time he and his disciples reach their longed-for destination, the crowds are waiting, and the quiet sanctuary Jesus seeks for himself and his disciples is nowhere to be found. Does Jesus run? Does he turn the boat around and sail away? No. As Mark puts it, "Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things."

The shepherd is a recurring image in both Testaments. In the Old Testament, the shepherd and the king are associated or joined together. Israel longed constantly for another shepherd king like David, but were often disappointed. Jeremiah (23:1-6) criticized King Zedekiah and others like him. “Doom (woe) to the shepherds….” They were supposed to gather and lead God’s people, instead their neglect scattered the flock. The consequences of such poor and corrupt leadership were dire: Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were taken into exile. Jeremiah makes a dark promise. God will take back the flock and shepherd them. God will rescue them by sending a righteous leader who has the heart and mind of God. God fulfills the promise made to the people. Jesus is the promised shepherd who will gather and feed God’s weary flock.

Jeremiah promised a shepherd king like David "who will reign and who will be wise” who will "who will practice honesty and integrity in the land.” By our baptism each of us is called to continue the mission of shepherding like Jesus and it can be very tiring! We do that in daily, unofficial ways by how we teach and set good example for others, especially the young. Did you notice what Jesus, the shepherd, did immediately when they disembarked and saw the needy crowd? He taught them. We don’t want our young to have a false notion of God, or a diminished notion of their worth before God. So we teach. But we also need some reflective time ourselves to dwell on God’s Word, lest our teaching be more about idols we fashion from our own thoughts, than about our shepherd Jesus.

Some of us are engaged in full or part-time ministry within our church community. What Jesus said to his disciples is true for us as well. We need to figure out how to “come away .. all by ourselves” for short and occasionally longer periods, to hear the Word of God for ourselves, and those we are called to shepherd through our teaching. The bottom line: all of us are sent to share our knowledge of Jesus, a knowledge that 's not primarily found in books or doctrine, but as a result of our personal encounter with Christ.

I write this reflection, as a comfortable middle-class Australian, and it is too easy a temptation for me to pass on compassion's responsibility to someone else. Whether I'm looking at the needs in my own circle of influence, my seemingly self-sufficient neighbours, or the wider community, it is tempting to tell myself that nothing urgent is at stake. Everything can wait, because I'm not the only person on the planet or in the church. Not much really depends on me. Or does it? However, this week's Gospel reading is about the ongoing and necessary tension between compassion and self-care. The gospel reveals to me that Jesus also lived with this tension. Still, the point is valid, we all need to figure out how to get to our own “deserted places.” That might be a few minutes in the car before we go to work; a pause in the yard after we put out the garbage at night; a walk in the park; turning off the television, the phone and just sitting; listening to any music that helps us go inward for a brief period. Not all attempts by Jesus to withdraw to a quiet place were frustrated.

On the one hand, Jesus was unapologetic about his need for rest and solitude. He saw no shame in retreating when he and his disciples needed a break. On the other hand, he never allowed his weariness to overwhelm his compassion. He realised in this situation, that he was the last stop for the aching, desperate crowd "who were like sheep without a shepherd." Unlike me, his personal boundaries were finally less important to him than his desire to love others. Is there a lesson here for us? Is it strive for balance? Recognise weariness when you feel it? Don't apologise for being human? Take breaks? Yes. All of these are essential things. But maybe also and most importantly this: We live in a world of dire and constant need. Sheep can die without their shepherds. There are high stakes, and sometimes, what God demands of our hearts is costly. While balance remains the ideal, it will not always be available in the short-term. Sometimes, we will sometimes have to bend out of balance. If that happens, what should we do? In what direction should we bend? If this week's Gospel story is our example, then the answer is clear. We need to decide for authentic compassion. Jesus did. The gospel is not encouraging us to be work-a-holics, but shepherds.

At our Eucharistic celebrations we are often like the scattered sheep. Jesus, our shepherd, gathers us from the many places where we live, work and spend our days. What we have in common and what draws us to this special pasture, is the faith that, with our shepherd we are well cared for, nourished by the Word of God and the living Body and Blood of Christ. The shepherd does again what he has done before: he sends us out well fed to return to the places where each of us is called from to be shepherds. We do not go out on our own, but are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that was Christ's source of strength in his humanity as he set out to shepherd God’s needy people. So we pray; "Jesus you are my shepherd, I have everything I need."

Pentecost Sunday: Wind and Fire! Wonder and Worship!

“But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,either before or since you have spoken to your servant.”

 Ex 4:10 Pentecost Sunday: Wind and Fire! Wonder and Worship!

 

The first reading for the feast of Pentecost is from the Acts of The Apostles (2:1-11) The Spirit comes with 'wind and fire' ancient signs of God's powerful presence. The "devout" at the sound assembled and those from many countries were "amazed and astonished" to hear God's word spoken in their own native language by unlearned men. St Luke mentions 16 different places like “Phrygia and Pamphylia.” The Holy Spirit then and many times since has given this gift of what is called 'Apostolic Tongues' (not to be confused with 'Prayer Tongues' or 'Prophetic Tongues'). This gift of 'Apostolic Tongues' has often been given to many missionaries who have spoken in their own native language the word of God, only to be surprised to know that people they were preaching to understand them in their own. This wonderful gift enables God to overcome the universal language of bigotry and violence. In whatever way we understand the historical 'Day of Pentecost' the meaning could not be clearer. The lines of language that have divided humanity were erased as the prophet Joel predicted by the “Spirit poured out on all flesh.” Of course the language that was understood on that day was discounted by some cynics as "drunkenness" but in this moment the confusion of the Tower of Babel in Genesis was reversed. The reversal was so that every tongue could know of the powerful deed of God - that is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately it didn't take long for the universal language of love and mercy to be confused and confined and the ability to speak in tongues become more important than understanding what was said. But the Day of Pentecost was not just about speaking in tongues. It was about declaring the "powerful deeds of God" in ways that people could understand no matter where they came from or what language they spoke.

It is clear that the Spirit does not leave the fearful disciples comfortable, safe, and locked away in a sheltered world. When the Spirit comes those who were huddled together are driven out into the market place. That’s how the gospel message stared to spread and continues to be spread throughout the world, through many expressions of language and cultures. The Spirit gathered the disciples into one church - gathered weakness for Spirit formed strength. But the Spirit also pushed the believers beyond their normal, accustomed comfortable boundaries. God is making a point and fulfilling the promise that, in messianic time (time after Jesus), the Spirit would be poured out on ALL people. Luke's spectacular account might give us the impression that the Spirit comes only at certain moments and recedes to wait for another important time to come again. But, Pentecost teaches us that the Spirit does not pop in and out of our lives. If that were true then, when facing a difficult challenge we might be hesitant to step forward and do what needs to be done. In ALL situations the Spirit will not hold back but will come to enable and guide. Perhaps praying for the Spirit to “come” is more about our need. The Spirit is always present and the prayer reminds us of that. What we need to do is to pray and then step out to do what needs doing knowing that the Spirit will be there each step of the way.

Saint Paul under the influence of the Holy Spirit teaches the Galatian (5:16-25) Christians not to "... yield to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit" but to be "led by the Spirit ... since the Spirit is our life." He teaches about those behaviours that are not from the Spirit. He then gives a list of sure signs of the Holy Spirit's presence in an individual; "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Jesus assures us that these Spirit formed abilities and qualities are necessary so that we can "witness" to the presence of Christ in our lives. The 12th century CE Islamic Sufi mystic wrote; "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I Am wise, so I am changing myself." The Holy Spirit who Jesus called the "Advocate" in John's gospel (15:26) comes not only to defend us but to transform us so that we can let go our ego-conditioned self-preoccupied way of life and to lives that radiate like perfume the presence of Jesus by changing ourselves. "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave ..." The Spirit-filled Jesus shows us what can be our when we surrender ourselves to the power greater than ourselves. May this feast of the Holy Spirit's coming to birth the church, find us not only filled with joyful praise for what God is doing but also loving power to serve with true selfless joy.

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER (Sunday after Ascension)B-Br. Simeon

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Simeon at Maroubra:Sunday 17th May 2015: 

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER (Sunday after Ascension)  B.



Gospel:  John 17: 6-19

"Sanctified and consecrated in God's truth"

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer. Amen.

Do you know why God created you - what purpose and mission he has entrusted to you?

You may not have sensed God leading you to become a missionary or a preacher, or whatever it might be, but you still have a calling! No other person than your Creator can tell you why He created you. You were brought here by God and for a purpose!

Jesus' aim and mission was to glorify his heavenly Father. All he said and did gave glory to his Father. On the eve of his sacrifice on the cross and in the presence of his disciples, Jesus made his high priestly prayer: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that they may be one as we are one". Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples and for all who would believe in him. Jesus' prayer for his people is that we be united with God the Father in his Son and through his Holy Spirit and be joined together, in unity with all who are members of Christ’s body.

What motivated Jesus to lay down his life on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world? It was love - love for his Father in heaven and love for each and every one of us who are made in the image and likeness of God. Jesus was sent into the world by his Father for a purpose and that purpose was a mission of love to free us from slavery to sin, Satan, fear, death, and hopelessness.

Jesus saw glory in the cross rather than shame. Obedience to his Father's will was his glory. Jesus kept his Father's word even when tempted to forgo the cross. Jesus did not rely on his own human resources and strength to accomplish his Father's will. He trusted in his Father to give him strength, courage, and perseverance in the face of opposition, trials, and temptation. We also must take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus wherever he may call us.

He will give us the strength and power of the Holy Spirit to live as his disciples. John Henry Newman wrote: "God has created me, to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.”



I have my mission, called to His service as a priest, and you have yours to do as well. Each of us has been called by God, whether you know it or not in this life, you shall be told it in the next. You and I are a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created you and me for nothing. Therefore, we have to trust him. Whatever, wherever we are. You and I cannot be thrown away.

Jesus prayed that his disciples would be sanctified and consecrated in God's truth and holiness. The scriptural word for consecration comes from the same Hebrew word which means holy or set apart for God. This word also means to be equipped with the qualities of mind and heart and character for such a task or service.

Just as Jesus was called by the Father to serve in holiness and truth, so we, too, are called and equipped for the task of serving God in the world as his ambassadors. God's truth frees us from ignorance and the deception of sin. It reveals to us God's goodness, love, and wisdom. And it gives us a thirst for God's holiness. The Holy Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness. As we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, he transforms us by his purifying fire and changes us into the likeness of Christ.

I'm not always one for leaving challenges after my sermon has been preached, but today as we leave this place of worship, I leave this for you to ponder in this coming week: Is your life consecrated to God?

Amen.

6th Sunday of Easter year B - Br Luke

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

I know ! – Br Andrew will be happy with me - I've written this homily down. 

Homily preached by Br Luke at Blaxland 10th May 2015

6th Sunday of Easter year B

Gospel John 15:9-17

Well I have a slight dilemma, which of John’s passages do I choose?

Both speak of love and of salvation.  In the second reading John links Jesus’s death, baptism and the Holy Spirit as a threefold witness for divine actions.  He goes further and says that God’s testimony regarding Jesus is this:  “Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life”.  He can’t make it any clearer than that!  But what does this mean to us?  Do we have the Son of God? Indeed is this a question we have ever asked ourselves? Or do we think that because we call ourselves Christian this is enough. We assume that we have life? It really looks like a black and white question doesn't it.

In the Gospel, John records Jesus as saying: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love”.  And then Jesus says “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you”.  Oh dear, - I suspect there are some in this world who would like to ask Jesus to rephrase that commandment.  Something along the lines of: um can we have a discussion about this Jesus? Do we really have to love one another?  I suspect he’d just silently look at us and then give us a ‘think about what you just said’ smile.

But we humans are an inventive lot, perhaps if we look hard enough, or explore the words in more detail, or interpret them differently we could find some little gap to squirm out of? Some nice loophole so that we can wander through and not concern ourselves with this instruction?  Yes, strike a chord with anyone?  After all loving one another is hard work.  Especially if the other person is - well you know - ‘not like us’.

But Jesus doesn’t let us off lightly, he tells us we are his friends if we do this.  Not his servants, not his slaves, his friends.  He tells us this because he loves us and not because he orders us to do it. We will voluntarily follow the commandment because of his love for us and our love for him.  After all, we are his friends – right? Sounds like an “O bugger” moment doesn’t it.  You know that point when you suddenly realise with absolute clarity that you’ve got no excuses, no wriggle room, you’re committed to a course of action.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go bear fruit, fruit that will last”.  Hmm remember last week’s gospel? It was about the vine.  We are the ‘grafted in’ branches and we bear fruit.  If we do not produce fruit then we get pruned out?  And here Jesus tells us, we are picked by him.  He calls us to go and work in the vineyard.  He is telling us so that we can “love one another”.  Sorry people there is no wriggle room here.  This is a divinely authored action.  Now of course the reality in our lives is that we do not follow this commandment.  Sadly we do not love one another.  If we did there would be violence, there’d be no war or conflicts, and we’d have universal peace and goodwill among the peoples of the world.

So do we just throw our hands up and say ‘it’s all too hard’.  Well no, that’s not what we do, because of we did, then as John told us earlier; “Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life”.  So our job, is to call out to the world, that love of neighbour, is not an illusion or a fanciful theory, but a real possibility.  One that we can achieve, if we stop and think. If we pause and realise that the other person is really no different from us.  Sure they may look different, they may speak a different language, they may have a different gender, or a different sexual orientation to us, but they are just like us.  They bleed if they are cut, they cry if they are sad or distressed and they laugh if they are happy – and perhaps more importantly they love, just as we do.

So my challenge for you this week, is to look for someone who is different from you and ask yourself – not them – yourself, can you see yourself in them. Can you envisage a time, when you could talk to them and perhaps even regard them as a friend, not someone to be shunned and marginalised, even harmed?  I caution you, it won’t be easy, but try anyway and then tell us about it at our Bible study on Friday.

Remember, Jesus loves us, he command us to love each other and when we do that, then we have life eternal.  Amen.

Easter 6B: Not A Suggestion but A Loving Command.

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Not A Suggestion but A Loving Command.

We are getting close to the end of the Easter season. Soon we will celebrate the disciples receiving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and their being sent out to preach what they experienced and learned from the Risen Lord. If they were asked to sum up what their experience with Jesus was, what would they say? I am sure they would respond by saying: 'in the end, HIS LOVE triumphed'. Sin and death and brutal powers did their best to Jesus, but his love both human and divine was the winner. That realization would enable the disciples to say that even though death and sin seem to have the last word in our world, but because of Jesus' victory, love will triumph. It feels at times that good and evil are battling it out. How can the forces of love win out over so many destructive brutal displays of sin in the world? Still, God's love for us, shown in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, has won the victory over sin and death.

In the gospel reading of John (15:9-17) we find a summary of what has been given to us as disciples of Christ. It also holds a promise we can trust while we wait love's final victory. The love Jesus had for those he calls "friends," moved him to lay "down his life" for us. He remind us that; "You did not choose me, no, I chose you." He freely "chose" us, and gave us concrete signs of his love. That love has the power to transform our lives and then, through us, the life of the world. Robin Maas in her book Crucified Love, offers a wonderful insight: “Few, if any of us, will be called to martyrdom; but all of us are called to a series of little deaths in the form of invitations to restrain or deny self….The sending of God by God was the sending of Love – a crucified Love willing to lay down its life for friends and enemies alike. Your mission and mine – which we can only perform insofar as we are in communion with God and with one another – is to submit, out of love for one another, to countless, daily ‘little deaths’ until we have yielded every least and last remnant of self to the purpose of Christ.” (pages 98, 121)

Jesus is saying, 'I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another' (15:17). The Beatles sing the song, "All You Need Is Love" and many who hear it will hear different messages. It is true that all we need is love - but who's love? and what love? When we get past all the sentimental feeling and greeting card sweetness we have the teaching of Jesus. All you need is love is true - his type of love. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (15:12) As I have loved you??? No one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (15:13). Oh! Yes!!! That type of love. John reminds us that the kind of love Christians are called to embody takes a particular, cruciform shape. We hear this truth in Jesus' words, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love."(15:9) The experience of Christ's love for us makes it possible for us to love others, even our enemies. The phrase "... as I have loved you ..." refers not only to his gentle generous giving but also to his willingness to bravely lay down his life by suffering for others. The first letter from John (4:7-10), our second reading, announces a similar truth. "Let us love one another, since love comes from God." We can love one another because God's love is at work in us transforming our lives, and moving us from being self-centred to being other-centred.

From the moment we are created, God constantly offers himself to be with us. In the mythological accounts of the Book of Genesis God dwells with humans in the garden of Paradise, wanting to be close. But they/we try to hide from God, not responding when God calls. It is only when Jesus came that we realised that it was not God who forbade our access to the tree of life, but our own stubbornness and disobedience. It was necessary for us that Jesus the Word of God should start anew a conversation with us, to breach the distance, to restore God’s presence to us. The desire of God to share divine life and love with us is expressed by Christ who says: ‘I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you’. In Christ, God gives us a sign of true love and friendship. There is no end to this great love even if we are faithless, ‘He remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.’(2 Tim 2:13) Doesn't friendship require giving not just receiving? Yes, it does require mutuality and sharing, so God gives us the Holy Spirit; the Gift from above of love's power, so we can return love for love. And we are made heirs of the Kingdom by being made one with Christ, who emptied himself to become one of us, to become our equal - to be our friend. Now he prays that our joy may be full; that is, as love-driven-disciples we may achieve loves fulfilment of the vision of God, by DOING day-by-day through our 'little deaths' loves work of selfless service. (See: Matthew 25)

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER. YR B.-br. Simeon

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Simeon at Blaxland on Sunday 12th April 2015:

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER. YR B.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

"Unless I see - I will not believe"

May I speak in the Name of the One God, +Father, +Son and +Holy Spirit. Amen

God’s story is our story. We have been blessed with the Bible, God’s story of his interaction with his beloved creation. The stories we read in the gospels are our story. In Holy Week we tried to step into God’s story as we looked at the stories of some of the lesser characters in Mark’s gospel. Now we have come to the Easter season and we walk in the most astonishing and delightful part of the story of God’s dealings with his people. So let us again seek to step into this story.

There must be something confronting about facing a friend scarred with the marks of crucifixion. Such a confrontation would be only a fraction of what these disciples are facing. And even more so when Jesus appears to them in person, alive and very much real!

The Risen Lord Jesus revealed the glory of his resurrection to his disciples gradually and over a period of time. Even after the apostles saw the empty tomb and heard the reports of Jesus' appearance to the women, they were still weak in faith and fearful of being arrested by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus appeared to them he offered proofs of his resurrection by showing them the wounds of his passion, his pierced hands and side. He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes us friends of God.

Jesus did something which only love and trust can do. He commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father. Jesus fulfilled his mission through his perfect love and obedience to the will of his Father. He called his first disciples and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of us the same Holy Spirit who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to live each day as followers of the Risen Lord.

The last apostle to meet the resurrected Lord was the first to go with him to Jerusalem at Passover time. The apostle Thomas was a natural pessimist. When Jesus proposed that they visit Lazarus after receiving news of his illness, Thomas said to the disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). While Thomas deeply loved the Lord, he lacked the courage to stand with Jesus in his passion and crucifixion.

After Jesus' death, Thomas made the mistake of withdrawing from the other apostles. He sought loneliness rather than fellowship in his time of trial and adversity. He doubted the women who saw the resurrected Jesus and he doubted his own fellow apostles.

When Thomas finally had the courage to re-join the other apostles, Jesus made his presence known to him and reassured him that he had indeed overcome death and risen again. When Thomas recognised his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God! Through the gift of faith we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. He died and rose that we, too, might have new life in him. The Lord offers each of us new life in his Holy Spirit that we may know him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of his resurrection.

As we prepare to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, a question I leave with you to ponder in your hearts as you prepare to come and 'eat his flesh', and 'drink his blood', do you believe in the good news of the Gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring you new life, hope, and joy, today, and throughout your life's journey?

Amen.

First Sunday after the Epiphany – The Baptism of the Lord-Br Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached at Warrimoo on Sunday 11th January 2015 smatterings of Br. Luke as gleaned by Br. Andrew: 

First Sunday after the Epiphany – The Baptism of the Lord

Readings

Genesis 1:1-5

Psalm 29

Acts 19:1-7

Mark 1:4-11

Genesis is a story of Beginnings that is what the word ‘genesis’ means, it is not a history of the beginning of the universe, it is a story about the first Beginning, it is Theology this time of the first Jordan:

Our world was once a ball of water with the Holy Spirit, the ruach hakodesh hovering over it, waiting to draw living beings from beneath its dark depths. 

Very much like the river Jordan, the new born earth was a source of cleansing and reconciliation, passing from within itself all manner of life forms, baptising them into life. A life which began perfectly. God said everything was ‘good’.

Even from before that first day when God created light before ever the sun set or rose, what God created was good.

From the beginning of that first day as evening became morning everything associated with that new born earth was declared ‘good’.

But then came ‘History’

“I don’t usually preach on Paul” or words to that effect Luke said last week when he proceeded to do just that.

“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit” 

Paul has arrived in Ephesus to find disciples of John the Baptist.

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, ritual bathing was common to Judaism therefore when John had baptised  it was not by any name or into any name that he baptised them, nor into any creed; they remained Jews yet cleansed of their sins awaiting  the coming of Jesus. 

Though their reply to Paul was that they had been baptised into John’s Baptism, John himself would be the first to say that his baptism was not his own but God’s for as Paul reminded them, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ Subsequently they have been converted to the Lord Jesus, since, as per above it says that Paul arrived in Ephesus to find 12 disciples. So it is Paul’s words about the Lord Jesus, in whom they believed, who had come after John that must have inspired them to immediate baptism and to receive the Holy Spirit.

Notice, though, that Paul baptises them into the name of “Jesus”, not into the name of the “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. Having done this the Holy Spirit descended upon them and they begin prophesying and speaking in other languages. Almost as a tag Paul adds that altogether there were about 12 of them – 12 new disciples of Jesus.

Jesus had come to John at the Jordan to be baptised by him, Jesus himself received the baptism of John, and from Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 3:14) we know that John demurred about the situation and said that it ought to have been the other way around. The Evangelist Mark uses it so that the Father can rend the heavens by the Spirit with the affirmation that Jesus is His own beloved Son – this same spirit which filled those disciples once they were baptised in the name of Jesus.

For those of us baptised by Trinitarian baptism we may have never experienced the ecstasy of speaking in tongues or prophesying but Scripture tells us that these experiences would not always occur (I Corinthians 13:8) and will cease altogether. We know by Faith that through baptism we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and hence become part of the Body of Christ and one with the Holy Trinity and one another as they are One.(John 17:11,22)

That Sunday we also heard about the differing sacramental traditions of the Roman and Protestant Churches, whether there are 7 or 2…

We believe there are 2, those in which Jesus participated in himself Baptism and Communion.

We also debated the differences between ‘Believers baptism’ and ‘Infant baptism’ that the former defines Church membership or is a Rite of Initiation and the latter marks a Rite of Passage. One depends for its upkeep – so to speak, on the child’s parents or family until they reach a conversion experience of their own and the other begins with that conversion experience.

It is almost but not quite like the Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus??

6th Sunday of Easter preached by Br. Simeon.

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached at Winmalee on  Sunday 25th May 2014: 

 SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER. Year A.

Gospel:  John 14: 15-21

“ If you love Me”.

Almighty God, by whose power we are created and by whose love we are redeemed. Guide and strengthen us for Your service, that we may live this day in love for You and one another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Language is a funny thing.  When you look at words, how they're formed, what they mean, it is interesting to see how they came to be.  There are words that are long and words that are short.  We have words that are easy to pronounce and words that are not easy to pronounce.  One word in the English language is 28 letters long, antidisestablishmentarianism.  It's a word that you won't hear a lot.  There's even a 45
letter word, but I won't go there to begin to try to pronounce that word.  But there is one word that is not a long word; rather it is only 2 letters long. The word is “if”.  It is conditional.  It indicates that should you do this, then you will receive that.  It requires action, usually on our part, to receive the intended results that we desire.

That is how Jesus begins His discourse here.  He says, “ If you love me, you will keep my commandments”.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don't love Jesus.  Because of our sinful nature, we want absolutely nothing to do with God.  We utterly despise Him and everything that He stands for.  We can't love Jesus on our merits or work, and we surely can't keep His commandments.  That should be the end of it all.  We don't want God, we hate God, and we despise God.  So in turn, God should not want us.  God should hate us.  God should despise us.

Bur that is not the way it is.  God chose to love us when we were unlovable in our sin.  Through His great love and mercy, He gave to us His only-begotten Son.  By the work of Jesus Christ, we have been given the gift of Jesus and His forgiveness, won for us on the cross.

Jesus knows that we cannot love Him.  God knows that we cannot love Him, yet that doesn't stop them loving us. God love us when we were unlovable and promised Jesus.  Jesus loved us when we were unlovable and gave Himself to us and promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We have been promised , “ I will never leave you nor forsake you”.  Here, Jesus tells us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”.

Really?  God would promise us a Saviour for breaking His one command of not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?  Jesus would give to us Himself even when we are incapable of doing what He says, “ You therefore must be perfect,

as your heavenly Father is perfect”.  Speaking for myself, I know that I’m not perfect.  And speaking for all of you, I know that you're not perfect either.  None of us are perfect, nor has there been anyone who is perfect, except for Jesus Christ.  He is the on and only who has ever been or ever will be perfect.  You and I are far from perfect.

In fact, we are so far beyond perfect that the only thing you and I should receive is death and damnation.  Yet, despite all of that, God still loves us.  Despite our grievous sins, God still loves us enough to send us a Saviour.   Despite our grievous sins, Jesus still loves us to send us the gift of the Holy Spirit for the building up of our faith.

Through the gifts of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Jesus continues to come to us, just as He says He would.  Through these simple and ordinary means of water, bread and wine, Jesus gives to us that which we need most – His forgiveness, His life, His salvation.  He gives to us freely and gives out of His great and abundant mercy.

Test We are His disciples, and because we are His disciples, He promises to keep us in His care and does so through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  However, there is one problem with that as well.  On account of our sin, we fall short of keeping God's gifts as we should.  We neglect to be in God's Word, both privately and corporately.  We do not hunger and thirst for the Sacrament which Christ gives of His own body and blood.
We do not love our neighbour as we should.

There is a reason for this: “ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
From the greatest to the least, we all have sinned; we all have missed the mark.  But the Lord knows that the only way we can even begin to keep His gifts holy and sacred is if we receive help, so He sends another Helper, another Advocate.  The Holy Spirit is our second advocate.  He helps us in our weakness.  He especially helps us by taking what is Jesus' and showing it to us.  He helps us by giving us the truth, the true knowledge of God, and by actually remaining not only alongside us, but in us, for “ He dwells with you and will be in you.”

It is through this Helper, through the Holy Spirit, that you and I are given the miraculous gift of faith, faith not in ourselves, but in God who is the One who makes promises and keeps them.

Christ promises to keep His disciples  in His care by coming to them directly.  How does He come to us?  He comes in the ways that He has promised – through His Word and through His Sacraments.  The writer to the Hebrews says, “ In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old through the prophets.  But now, in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.”  He comes to us through His body and His blood, in a meal that we feast upon for the strengthening and nourishing of our faith.

To have Christ means that we have the victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. Having Christ, then, is to live in faith.  And when we have Christ, we also have the Father.

Jesus didn't just say that He loved us; He showed His love to us.  He kept us. He kept us from being destroyed by sin when He died for you and for me.  He kept us from being destroyed by death when He rose for us, and He keeps us today in His Word and in His Spirit.

By Christ and His actions for you and  me, He has shown the love of God to us, and because God has loved us, now we are able to love Jesus, because He has removed from us all of our sins and made us holy by His blood.

Amen.

Br. Luke EFO

Day of Pentecost- Br Simeon

 

Andre-Rublev's Saviour 

Homily preached at Winmalee on Sunday 8^th June 2014:  Day of Pentecost.

Gospel:    John 20: 19-23

“ Jesus breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.”.

Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts.  Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go.  Amen.

Have you ever noticed the spiritual energy that emerges, the peace that arises, when you simply stop what you're doing and take a few deep breaths?

"Jesus breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"

Jesus breathed, sending his life energy to his disciples and to us. The Holy Spirit can come to us in dramatic ways, as Acts 2 portrays, but it can also come in the simplest, most overlooked manner, in the very act of breathing. Could it be that as you read this, you are breathing some of the molecules that Jesus sent forth into the universe from the room where the disciples met? Could it be that the Holy Spirit is as near as your next breath? Could it be that insight and wisdom, courage and vitality, are as near as your next breath?

Breathing is underrated as a Christian spiritual discipline. But this passage shows us that we can breathe with Jesus. Each breath can be a prayer and an opening to God's Spirit. In locked doors where fear abounds, breath abides. Jesus greets the disciples with the words, "Peace be with you," and then he breathes on and in them. Jesus is breathing peace, and invites us to do likewise.

Have you ever noticed the spiritual energy that emerges, the peace that arises, when you simply stop what you're doing and take a few deep breaths? During my  seminary formation for ordination, Fr.Stephen used to say to me; when preparing to go to the pulpit to begin preaching  your  sermon,be still for a few seconds and when you breathe, you gain composure and confidence that will be reflected in your delivery and presentation."

It is not accidental that the word "inspiration" has to do with drawing air into the lungs. Each breath can be inspiring, taking in the Holy Breath of God and then breathing it forth into the universe. Inspiration embodies omnipresence.

Resurrection breath is everywhere—in locked rooms and closed hearts—waiting to liberate us from all that brings anxiety and alienation.

Peace is only a breath away. Today, why not practice breathing the resurrection? Take time to read these words, making them your own,

 “Jesus breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.” Better yet, why not personalise these words:

Jesus is breathing in our lives  and we are receiving the Holy Spirit. Every breath we take opens us to inspiration.  Every breath is a prayer.

The Lord Jesus offers each one of us the gift and power of his Holy Spirit. He wants to make our faith strong, give us hope that endures, and a love that never grows cold. He never refuses to give his Spirit to those who ask with expectant faith. Jesus instructed his disciples to ask confidently for the gift of the Spirit: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13).

Resurrection means that Jesus is everywhere, inspiring all who breathe, giving life to deadened spirits and inspiring healthy embodiment. Breathe with Jesus' resurrection breath and receive God's ever-living Spirit.

Do you thirst for God and for the abundant life he offers through the gift of his Spirit?

Amen.

Sermon Extra 6 - 6th Sunday of Easter

John Chrysostom

6^th  Sunday of Easter Sermon Extra

Gospel

John 14:15-21

1. Homilies of Chrysostom   John Chapter 14

John 14:15-21

2. The Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt

"I Will Not Leave You Orphaned..."

I took my car in to get the oil changed a couple of days ago.  Things were a little slow at 8 a.m. on a Friday morning and Alex, the man who checked me in, was full of stories which he was eager to share. It was clear that this one in particular is one he is particularly proud of and it took neither prodding nor invitation to get him to tell it to the handful of us waiting for our cars to be serviced.

Read on….....

Better late than never

Sermon for 6th Sunday of Easter written by Br. Luke EFO, Preached by Br. Simeon