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.

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - The Transfiguration - Br Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Homily preached by Br. Andrew at Maroubra on Sunday 15^th February 2015:

The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - the Transfiguration

Readings:

2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalms 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-12; Mark 9:2-9


Today, is the last Sunday after the Epiphany, and as the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent is also the Sunday of the Transfiguration of the Lord. 

The word Transfigure is derived from Latin “transfigurare” or “across figure” and this word came into the English via the Old French between 1100 and 1250. Its common meaning is ‘to transform into something more beautiful or elevated.’ To change the form of something or someone into something more beautiful or elevated

Spiritually speaking, when we find ourselves on this mountain top each year with Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah and Jesus it is not only outward experiences that concern us, because, you see for those of us who walk in the footsteps of Christ we are ever learning new things of  him.

This is His final Epiphany experience, or rather ours before He begins the Journey to Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem. Epiphanies are Manifestations, revelations of certain information to certain individuals.

THE primary or official EPIPHANY, occurred when Jesus was made manifest, revealed to the Nations in the three Magi, who came to worship him, as King of the Jews witnessed by his parents.
The second time was at his baptism in the Jordan when God made it known in person that Jesus was his own beloved son. Andrew and John were present at that time.
Here we are once more atop what must have been Mount Hermes, (we can talk about this on Thursday), with Peter and James and of course John who was present at Jesus baptism.

It says “And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one* on earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:2b, 3) I guess the easiest way Peter could describe the event to Mark must have been that Jesus’ clothes became so white that he had never seen the like before because we don’t have any description of Jesus here just his unearthly laundromat.

Retrospectively, in Peter’s realization that he was in the presence of the True and living God he later refrains from giving the description to Mark or any of us for that matter because he saw the face of God and lived – just a thought?

We notice that as soon as Christ is transfigured that Elijah with Moses can be seen speaking with Jesus, were they there all along and did the Transfigurement then allow the disciples to see and to hear them? What might we SEE if we were to place ourselves in this diorama with the group and encounter the living God in Jesus; would we be open to learning or would we like Peter want to pitch tents, because it would be too much for us, I guess it had better be too much for us else what are we doing here?


Elijah represents the epitome of Prophet hood and was to return before the Messiah arrived, we know that one with a spirit like his walked and talked in John the Baptist and was executed and now Elijah appears with Jesus before Jesus, in his turn is about to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world, past present and to come.

Our reading from the second book of the Kings is about the Ascension of Elijah who was taken to heaven in a whirlwind by God. The reading takes us through what was the last walk in his life and also through the brief and final stages of the apprenticeship of the prophet Elisha.

“2. Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal”( 2Kings 2:1) And they walk from Gilgal to bethel and from Bethel to Jericho and from Jericho to the Jordan, each time Elijah telling Elisha to remain behind and each time Elisha saying “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”  Notice the Company of Prophets telling Elisha that today the Lord will take your master  away from you and he tells them to be quiet because he knows.

Unlike Peter, Elisha is absolutely aware of what is going on and ready to take up the challenge to walk with his master to his master’s death.

Moses – the representative of the Torah the living Law, also died in special circumstances somewhere nearby the place where Elijah crossed over the Jordan on dry ground. He was led up to the top of mount Nebo from where he surveyed the Promised Land, he was never to enter because of his disobedience. It is questioned that depending upon which mountain was the mount of Transfiguration and from which part of the mountain range Moses viewed the Promised Land that he may have been able to have seen the mount of Transfiguration… What we do have here are some interesting ponders – that Moses who sinned and did not cross over the Jordan died on Mount Nebo and was hidden by God in a valley somewhere.
That Elijah crossed over the Jordan by striking the water with his furled cloak and crossed over on dry land before Ascending into heaven in a whirlwind. AND effectively speaking the Jordan was where Jesus’ earthly Ministry began.

That these three in manners of speaking have all met before in sin and in death and now the Law and the prophets have come to bear witness with the Apostles in the sound of the voice of God, a theophany, “This is my Son, the Beloved;* listen to him!’”(Mark9:7b)
 Using a cloud to protect the Apostles from the terrible presence of God assists the disappearance of Moses and Elijah. Arriving in dazzling light and departing in cloud.
If we have managed to place ourselves alongside the party in this diorama have we listened?
Will we now listen to Jesus?

Just a little about Paul because it really needs much more time, perhaps Thursday. We really do need to listen with dictionaries and thesauruses in hand when we read Paul. 

Briefly what he says is that the Ministry of the New Covenant, more glorious than that of Moses is like the very first creation of God, Light and yet it has been entrusted to frail human beings who were fashioned from clay. Paul himself alludes to the struggles he has had and to his feelings of inadequacy, we know the struggles of Peter just from our Gospel readings yet God has entrusted us to take the light of the Gospel to the world.

This light is so bright and regenerative that it can withstand all our weaknesses even after all the evil that has been done in its name it is still the reflection of God’s divine glory and has the capacity to transfigure the soul.

If ever we become inflated with our own solo capacity to preach the word we need to climb our own private Nebo’s and recall our weakness and sin and Christ’s ultimate act of self-sacrifice that had enabled us to follow Elijah over the Jordan – dry shod.

And take up our frail urns which only the Spirit of God can strengthen and let the Gospel light shine.

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??

16th Sunday after Pentecost-Br Andrew

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

An ECCA Parish

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily preached at Winmalee 

by

 Br Andrew on  Sunday 28th September 2014

Gospel Matthew 21:23-32

“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

Authority is a wonderful thing to have when differences are to be settled and people are to be put in their place, yes authority can be useful. As a citizen of Judah both Civil and Ecclesiastical Bodies held authority over Jesus, just as they did every other citizen. Shortly in (Matthew 22:21) we will learn that Jesus even acknowledged the right of the Roman overlords to exact their taxes. Remember also the time that the collectors of the Temple Tax approached Peter to discover whether Jesus paid that tax, a four drachma coin was found in a fish’s mouth and the tax was paid for both Peter and Jesus – whether the Son of God had to pay it or not. (Matt.17:24-27) Today the Roman Church calls this payment Peter’s pence.

The record in today’s Gospel gives us another incident illustrating one of those situation in which a citizen was required to comply with both Civil – the Elders of the People and Ecclesiastical – the Pharisees; Courts These two Bodies of Law had come out in force to arrest this imposter who recently had disrupted a very lucrative money spinner when he threw the money Changers out of the Temple.

They wanted his piece of Paper – that authorized him to preach and teach.

The Son of Man had no piece of Paper! AND they knew this!

Every Rabbi had his right to practise as an Instructor presented  to him by the scribes, or their chief representative, after they had finished their studies at the feet of some great teacher and been solemnly admitted (the delivery of a key, as the symbol of the right to interpret, being the outward token) to that office.

The second question made sense of the first. Could He name the Rabbi who had trained Him, or authorised Him to teach?

As a human being Jesus had not gone through the usual educational and study process to obtain the necessary qualifications, his knowledge and Authority came from his heavenly Father. The Authorities knew he was a paperless Rabbi because they did not have his name in their records, they knew he could not name the Rabbi who had trained him, because there wasn’t one and therefore could arrest him at the very least as an imposter.

Jesus responds to their question “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”(21:24,25)

All in a tizz they deliberated that, although they had investigated John the Baptist and found him, let us say satisfactory as a Prophet. To say that John received his authority from God would mean that they must also acknowledge that Jesus’ Authority also came from God. To deny the former would cause the people to riot, because the people believed John was a prophet, this would be disastrous so they lied and said that they didn’t know. So they made fools of themselves implying that experts as they were supposed to be they could not determine the Authenticity of any prophet.

27…. Then (Jesus) said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things”

To the ears of the people of his time his parables were easier to understand and probably held greater depths of meaning as well as any word play that doesn’t come through to translation. For instance – as well as this being a parable it is also a metaphor.

What then did the parable of the two sons say to them? Let’s look at these Old Testament Metaphors:

·         Firstly for the Israelites the “Vine” is a symbol of (Israel's) Spiritual privileges.

·         Secondly the vineyard was a symbol of (Israel) and its promised prosperity.

Jesus, however is speaking of the Vineyard of the Kingdom of Heaven wherein he is the Vine, (John 15: ) in this Parable I am going to use the symbolism to represent both the Mission field and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Firstly the Parable itself intends the Vineyard to be the Kingdom of Heaven, the place wherein we shall finally attain our perfect spiritual relationship with Jesus. AKA the promised prosperity of Israel

The Sons represent two classes of people, the first: those who erstwhile were tax collectors and sinners but who received the Baptism of John and were converted, his/ their “NO” represents their former lives of sin and their Going to work the Vineyard their conversion and entering first into the kingdom.

The second son represents the second class of people, who were full of self-righteousness; who even after hearing John’s call to repentance had ignored it because they didn’t believe him, or that his call applied to them, the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. Yet after seeing this, they did not repent and believe him. Hence prostitutes and sinners shall enter Heaven before they do.

Later we will read that after the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. And in public too!

Now let us  compare the vineyard to the Mission field of the world we inhabit, we live in it, we work in it to bring others to know the love of Christ and the reality of the Kingdom and as we do so we grow in spiritual intimacy with him. Jesus is never far away because we are developing an intimate relationship with him that spurs us to do his will gladly.

If we were one of those who, like the Pharisees, only pretend conversion, who have not yet believed in the call to repentance we would soon discover that the Vineyard was too uncomfortable a place to be until we could face up to the darkness within us and believe, until then we try to conceal ourselves with our new clothes and good deeds.

It is not chic to be a Christian, not even a fashion statement, and small communities such as ours must explain our raison d’etre to some of the more innocent members of the Body of Christ that do not realise the necessity for safe havens. Ours, then is a double Mission - not only to seek out the lost but perhaps to make known to the greater Church Community that there is a safe haven for those who do not pass muster, even to show others that they may need to be here too.

Amen

Sermon Extra 1 - Messiah Means

Ludovico Carracci [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

What does Messiah mean?

Addition to Sermon on Transfiguration

(Y-not question the Sunday Readings)
by Beehive  , Brigadoon West Australia, Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 20:26
Ynot:-

www.catholica.com.au

No, the scriptures are the apostles' way of telling what they saw and heard, and their way of saying how their conviction developed and grew and became clear and definite. How they progressed from Yes and No, to certainty. And they do not apologise for saying that conviction came from the Most High.

"This is my beloved son listen to him."

This phrase is the critical element of the transfiguration episode. 

It also surfaces In one of the Gospels at the baptism of Yeshua at the Jordan. A voice from heaven saying the same thing.

Even though Peter gets a bad press for his three tents, this vision or whatever it was, had revealed something unexpected about Yeshua . They expressed it as seeing his "glory".

What does glory mean? If Yeshua had just kicked the winning goal in the grand final that clinched the premiership, we would understand. There was something great about him not realised until this moment.

The hidden talent of champions is inside them. A champion is the sum of his parts.
We don't actually know the fullness of this talent until we have watched him reach his peak and is on his way out. We can only judge, compare and rank a champion among others in the hindsight of history.
This mountain top encounter had a profound effect on Peter. Towards the end of his life he wrote about it in glowing terms in one of his epistles.

These words of YHWH whom Yeshua called "father" clinched Peter's hunch that Yeshua was the Messiah.

These words for Peter were the final missing piece of the prophetic jigsaw that connected Yeshua and Yahweh in the promised father and son relationship. This was the missing messiah ingredient.

Yahweh's prophecy to David that he would raise up a descendant to whom he would give an everlasting kingdom contained the ingredient "I will be his father, and he will be my son". 

In itself, this could not have possibly been interpreted, or understood in those days to mean that the messiah would be Yahewh!

Nor does it have any connection with Atonement theology , or Trinity,..... It is a simile. But a very unique and essential one, when considered again in hindsight of what Yeshua was called to endure.

In later life Peter recognised this as the final bit of understanding that convinced him that Yeshua was the Anointed. This encounter allowed Sophia to get through to Peter with the gift of "knowledge", and from then on he saw Yeshua's "glory", that is his full identity as the Anointed one.

We must never get ahead of ourselves with a revelation like this. "Messiah" has to be understood within the context of the times, and within the confines of the information about it before 27AD.

We do have the advantage of hindsight in examining this concept.
But we also have to keep the rules:- Investigate all and only its elements that were available to that Jewish community before that moment in history. It then has to be evaluated only within those confines. An entity is only the sum of its parts.

"Messiah" is the sum of all its predictions given to Israel before 6BC. Nothing else can be added, or taken away from it. Any messianic teaching that exceeds those parts is patently erroneous.

To find out the ingredients, graces and limitations of the promised messiah, one has to return and surf the Old Testament. It is surprising what it actually brings up! It is a living, amazing series of revelations.
Beehive

Brian Pitts

Second Sunday in Lent - Br. Andrew EFO

Holy Redeemer

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily preached at Winmalee on 2nd March 2014

by Br Andrew

Gospel

John 3:1-17

JapaneseTourists Drive Straight into the Pacific Thanks to His GPS

Three Japanese tourists in Australia found themselves in an embarrassing situation after their GPS navigation system lured them down the wrong path.

The three, who are students from Tokyo, set out to drive to North Stradbroke Island on the Australian coast Thursday morning, and mapped out their path on their GPS system.

As the three drove their rented Hyundai Getz into Moreton Bay, they found the GPS device guiding them from a gravel road into thick mud.  They tried to get back to solid ground, but as the tide rose they were forced to abandon their car.  Passengers on passing ferries watched in amazement.

“It told us we could drive down there,” Yuzu Noda, 21, told the local Bayside Bulletin. “It kept saying it would navigate us to a road. We got stuck . . . there’s lots of mud.”

Noda and her friends made it about 50 yards offshore before they realized they were stranded. A tow truck driver eventually gave them a lift back to the mainland. The students decided not to have the car repaired because of the damage. The car was insured, though Noda will still have to pay about $1,500 that was not covered.

The students will fly back home to Tokyo this weekend, but they said they plan to try a trip to the island again sometime in the future.

“We want to come back to Australia again,” Noda told the Bayside Bulletin. “Everyone is very nice, even today.”(source)

Faith

These readings occurring at the beginning of Lent are sent to help us examine the depth of our Faith in God, in those things beyond our comprehension.

1. To understand what this Faith is
2. And, a little back to front – our first time response to the gift of Faith in Jesus, the washing away of our sins in Baptism.

Here is one of St Paul’s definitions of Faith from the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 7: vs 1, 2;

1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2 For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

Abram had the hope that the Lord would lead him into the Land Promised to him and make his descendants a great Nation, blessing the entire world through him, sight unseen, his Faith was proof that these promises would be fulfilled. There was nothing he needed to do except live his life in the shadow of that belief. We know that he wasn’t always successful, that Sarai laughed and he wanted Eliezer of Damascus to be his heir because he could believe the inexplicable things the Lord had promised but not, what to him was irrationally impossible... do we all know what this was?

From Abram’s lapses into doubt emerged his life of great Faith that became a light illuminating salvation History ahead of him. Abram believed God and his Faith made him righteous before God.

Faith is a free gift by Grace

Paul was speaking to Jewish Christians in Rome, about the difference between a life enslaved by the Law and one lived in the freedom of faith - hence the terminology:

Abram achieved righteousness before he was bound by the circumcision of the flesh, before Judaism existed, In Deuteronomy 6 Moses said “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants. You will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will live”

By Abram’s Faith his heart was circumcised and he became the Father of all the Faithful just as God promised.

Simply – the Spiritual circumcision of our hearts or instinctively knowing to keep the two great commandments is the inward reality for which the physical Circumcision ought to have signified. It is the Faith born of grace

Many times God offered this inward reality to his chosen ones who continued to prefer to exist under the Law and the penalty of the Law is death through sin- and only the spilling of innocent blood of Lambs or Kids temporarily paid the debt owed by sin.

 It was in propitiation once and for all of the accumulated sins of Israel and the world that Jesus was sent to die on the cross for us – the Perfect Lamb of God, the final shedding of innocent blood, taking away the sins of the world and making us At one with God.

No excuses any more, it is either Faith through Grace or pay at the checkout.

Baptism

As children, in some Denominations, baptism is a Rite carried out in infancy where the Witness to our turning towards Christ and forsaking all else is a vicarious one made on our behalf by our Godparents.

Other Denominations consider this only something the person can in reality do for themselves – in my particular spiritual journey I have done both.

Our Gospel

Offers us an insight into Adult Baptism, received after someone has been graced with the faith to believe in Christ as their Saviour and have accepted the offer to be born again according to the Spirit and cleansed in the waters of Baptism – sometimes a river.

Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret under the cover of darkness, he points out that the Pharisees, ‘we’ are aware that the Signs Jesus performs make him at least a teacher sent by God. There isn’t time to explain this fully right now.

According to the Author, Jesus, wrongly it seems, assumes Nicodemus to be more advanced in his own understanding of Jesus identity and tells him that he must be ‘born anew’

Now here we have the dilemma Nicodemus grasping with a physical and literal re-birthing experience contrasting with Abram grasping the concept of initiating a birthing for the first time around. Yet that is not what Jesus implied

Jesus ignores that scenario and continues; one must be ‘born anew’ of water and the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

And as Paul does in our earlier reading, Jesus speaks of the difference between those born of flesh and those born of spirit, and to become one of those whose heart is Circumcised Baptism of water and the Spirit is necessary.

In speaking of the natural movement of the wind in response to  the change in barometric pressure Jesus makes the analogy between the fact that in the same way that they could not be sure of where the wind blew neither can we know upon whom the Spirit chooses to Land – because Faith is God’s free gift by grace.

Nicodemus says how?

Then Jesus gives us a very clear picture of who he is and what is his mission:

“13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.  –Though the Son of Man descended from heaven, was born and lived on earth, ascended into heaven the son of Man never left heaven at all.

14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. – Just like the bronze serpent saved the Israelites from the poisonous ones in the desert so the Son of Man must be crucified to save us from the poison of sin that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Likewise, though the Son of Man hung on the cross and was lifted up he remained in heaven with the Father and the Spirit.

 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Yet the Son of God never left heaven

Once Jesus has paid the price for our sins and we by Faith through Grace believe in him and accept his gift of eternal life then we must be baptised through Water and the Spirit as the outward sign of our inward disposition toward the good, or our instinctive knowing to keep the two great commandments-This is in the presence of him whom we believe: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were
 ( Romans:4:17b adapted)

Br. Andrew

Baptism of the Lord - 2nd sunday after Epiphany-Br Andrew

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily, 12th January 2014 First Sunday after Epiphany

The Baptism of the Lord Year A, Rev Br. Andrew EFO

 Matthew 3:13-17

Jessica, on more than one occasion has told me the story of her grandfather taking a shower. In his old age he was a wily old man and didn’t often do what he didn’t want to do.

They would send him into the shower and hear the water running and after a suitable interval he would reappear dressed in his PJ’s ready for bed. Yet not really as freshly clean as one would hope after showering.

So one day you know who peered through the key hole to see good old granddad running the shower and standing safely out of the way of the water.

Henceforth he had to be supervised!

Though we find the record of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan in each of the Gospels, each are recorded differently according to the congregation to which they were addressed.

Matthew’s Gospel was addressed to a Congregation caught in the confusion of post Jerusalem Judaism, a group of Jewish Christians, in Northern Galilee or Syria who were feeling the oppression of the new Judaism controlled by the Rabbinic Pharisees.

Mostly Greek speaking Jewish Christians (it has been noted that Matthew quotes the Septuagint) with perhaps a few Syrian Christians, Matthew is at pains to place his community squarely within its Jewish heritage, everything he writes is to that end. Matthew is determined to obliterate the confusion generated by the cruel and overbearing Pharisees and their manner of keeping Torah and replace it with the softer middle road of Jesus, who came not to do away with the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them.

Matthew wanted to show them that Jesus is one of THEM!

In spite of what mainstream Church tells small communities like us; Jesus is one of US too!

This is the first time we meet the adult Jesus and he came, just as every penitent did, to the Jordan to be baptised by John for the remission of sins. Both Matthew and Mark indicate that Jesus came down from Galilee to be baptised, we might assume then, that many would recognise him as Joseph and Mary’s son and think nothing other than that he was joining them in turning his life around in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Some, or many, would know him as John’s cousin – Jesus wasn’t the total stranger he is sometimes made out to be. John certainly recognised Jesus as you would hope he would, he also knew who Jesus was and tried to change his mind.

“But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” (3:13, 14. WEB)

Listen to what Jesus says to John “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfil all righteousness.” V 15

So what does it mean to fulfil all righteousness and in the context of Matthew’s Community? In the context of our Community?

The Jewish Christians in Matthews Community were very familiar with the concept of the liturgical use of water as in Ezekiel 36:25 where God says “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.” In 2 Kings 5 we read of the use of total immersion in water to cure Naaman’s Leprosy so Matthew’s Jewish Christians understood the Baptism of John to bring both Spiritual and bodily healing.

Jesus, the Messiah of God began his ministry in the same manner as they began their lives as Christians through the waters of Baptism, in his case they were the waters of that change of heart which, for us, precedes the Baptism of Jesus that, for those early Christians, was yet to come.

Through the fulfilling of righteousness Jesus is acclaimed by his Father in Heaven and anointed by the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the beloved Son of God in whom God is most pleased.

In our context the fulfilling of Righteousness, is I believe to make Jesus known again as he really is someone who knew life as a human being, began life just as we did and lived his life for others, and ultimately died for them.

Unafraid of the injustices within society and the church we try to each of our ability to make Him alive and truly human once more, so that we might then show that he is also the beloved Son of God in whom God is well pleased.

One Body One Lord of All

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

An ECCA Parish

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily, 19th January 2014 Second Sunday after Epiphany

Br. Andrew EFO

John 1:29-42

Jesus returns to the Jordan

It was just last week that we heard in Matthew’s gospel how Jesus came to the river Jordan to be baptised; how reluctant John was to baptize him; how the heavens opened and John saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus and remain upon him.

Another visit to the river Jordan introduces us to three of Jesus’ early disciples, including the Author of this Gospel and from the Reading from Isaiah and Psalm 40 we understand who this Jesus is that is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.

Who is this Jesus?

Isaiah 49-

• He is one called from the womb, whose name was given in his mother’s womb.
• · His mouth is like a sharp sword dividing the marrow from the bone-
• · He is a sharpened arrow close in the quiver and is held safe in the palm of God’s hand.
• ·In the Lord’s eyes He is honourable and is called to gather the remnant of Jacob and the preserved of Israel, to be a light to the nations, that he may be the Salvation of the Lord to the end of the earth.

Why did he come?

To die for the individual and all Nations

Psalm 40, written by king David is one of the Messianic Psalms we Christians associate with the both the triumph and the suffering of Jesus, St Francis makes use of it in the Psalm he wrote for Compline of Maunday Thursday.

And so let it speak:
11 b Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.

13 Be pleased, LORD, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, LORD.

14 Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. (Psalm 40:11b-14 WEB)

Where do you live? Come and see!

At this the two leave the Baptizer to follow Jesus, they want to know where he lives.

Andrew, however is not ready just to come and see until he has gone to fetch his brother Simon to tell him that they had found the Messiah. As soon as Jesus sets eyes on Simon he says your name is Simon son of Jonah and you shall be called Peter or Cephas which means Rock.

As we journey through the life of Jesus we will come to realise that Jesus changes the names of those whom he has destined to do great or special things. Andrew, Peter and the other disciple stayed with Jesus until the 10^th hour, about 4.00pm. Then they left and the next day Jesus will go to find Phillip.

As we now know Peter was the rock upon which Jesus established the Church, so solidly that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. In these rocky times when so many of us have had to leave the mainstream Church to find succour in smaller Congregations  it is important to mark the experiences of the early church communities for now we are returned to be like them and.

Some twenty or so years after Jesus returned to heaven Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church who await Jesus return to earth, the subject is sectarianism, already the Church is beginning to fracture as groups rise up in favour of the human being who baptised them rather than to the one in whose name they were baptized.

In this new Community of Christ the Redeemer, a non-denominational Christian community seeking to have the courage to open the door to everyone and nurture the belief of everyone to seek the Jesus who was, whom we, too may come and see.

Br Andrew

Homily, 2nd Advent by Br Luke EFO.

St- Andre-Rublev's Saviour

Holy Redeemer

In the care of the Ecumenical Franciscan Order

Homily, 8th December 2013, 2nd Sunday in Advent, delivered by Br Luke EFO.



There are times, aren’t there, when what we read in the Scriptures just seems to shout at us? They just seem to confirm that the task we have before us is the right one. Today I think is one of these times. The Gospel reading today is about John baptising people. He is giving them a new start in the faith journey.
For us Christian’s baptism, is the start of our faith journey as followers of Christ. For Pentecostals, it is the full immersion in the water of baptism that signifies their being “born again”; and is the necessary precursor for them to receive the Holy Spirit. For the traditionalists, baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is enough. But in either, or both scenarios the act of baptism is an act of faith and results from, and leads to, commitment. And it is from that act of faith that a journey starts. So today we are staring something new. We have stepped out in faith, much like a baptism and we are starting to walk a path we believe Christ set before us. And like the faith journey that stars with baptism, so too must this new beginning today be a start not an end.
John warns those coming to be baptised that the simple act of baptism is/was not enough. The act must be followed by commitment. If we are simply baptised and then do nothing to walk as a Christian, then we may as well not have been baptised in the first place. Jesus tells us there are two great commandments: The first, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and with all your soul”. That is hard enough, but then he adds the second. “Love your neighbour and yourself”. For some of us it is hard enough to love ourselves let alone the persons next door, or the person we know to be our neighbour. Yet this is exactly what Jesus asks of us. That act of love, starts with our faith journey and doesn’t stop.
Now, you know, I have no doubt that the next time we read this passage of scripture the Holy Spirit will focus us on a different part of the passage. Or perhaps give us a different perspective on the same words we have just heard. For some of us this may be uncomfortable, but I think this should not alarm nor surprise us. This is the nature and purpose of the Scriptures. They are there to inspire, guide, encourage and challenge, confront and shock us and that won’t happen if every time we read them, we have the same response.
So while we start something new today, it is not enough for us just to be here today. We need to ensure we walk the path we have been shown and so we need to be here each week. To show both the commitment and the love that Jesus asks and calls us to. It won’t be easy, but then nothing of real worth ever is.