Something to stand on

Follow me

2012-01-21T22:46:00.001Z

Readings: Jonah 3 v 1-5,10, Mark 1 v 14-20

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ²“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” ³So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. ⁴Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

⁵And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

¹⁰When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

On Friday, I was working with some colleagues, putting together worship material for the season after Easter.

The material we produce Spill the Beans, we’ve been using for the past wee while here at Castlehill.

It’s a lectionary based material – that means we stick to the texts prescribed for churches every week.

Even though we’re working with the prescribed texts, we still have to decide which of the texts – the Old Testament, the Epistle or the Gospel we’ll focus on for any given week.

The season after Easter takes us, in the Old Testament readings, into the stories of King David, so we thought that would give us a good focus for the season.

The problem is that, though there were many great moments of triumph in David’s reign, there was also much violence and blood shed and less glorious moments.

However, having decided to go with the Old Testament for the season, we decided to stick with it. It’s important that we don’t simply produce our own version of favourite texts that we’re happy to preach.

And even more important to wrestle with those texts we don’t especially like or with which we struggle.

But, as those of you who were involved in the Bible Reading project last year will be well aware of, the Old Testament is very hard to stomach at times.

And it’s even harder to see how reading what are often bizarre stories can have any relevance to our life of faith today.

There are also stories in the Old Testament that we tend to remember, perhaps from Sunday School days, that become so much a part of our lore that we often forget or overlook their context – stories like that of David and Goliath (just one of the stories we were working on yestrday) – or, of today’s character, Jonah.

Most of us will recall, in different measures, that Jonah was the character who ran from God, ended up on a boat that got caught in a storm and, at his own request was thrown overboard.

He was swallowed by a whale, puked up and slunk back to do God’s bidding.

While other books of the prophets in the Old Testament spell out the ills of God’s people in exile and often pass damning indictments on the way that folk are living, Jonah is different.

As far as the people of Nineveh are concerned, they apparently play a minor role in this story which is more about the struggle that Jonah has in responding God’s call.

We read that Jonah, after taking his roundabout route to get there, via the belly of a whale, proclaims judgment on Nineveh, the people take note and decide to change their ways – that’s the nub of Nineveh’s involvement in Jonah’s story.

The people of Nineveh are convicted, they change their ways, and they are saved from their predicted awful fate.

But Jonah!

That’s a whole other story,

And THAT’s what takes up the bulk of this book.

We read of Jonah’s initial body swerving of God’s call – making a run for it.

Then we read of him coming to his senses and heading to Nineveh as God had asked, proclaiming God’s message to the people.

But, after the miraculous turnaround of the people, Jonah again has a problem with God.

Jonah is MAD at God for taking pity on the people particularly this people.

There are circumstances in which we can imagine God’s forgiveness to be entirely appropriate – such as the times God forgives us – it’s acceptable that God should overlook our minor misdemeanours.

But, Nineveh.

Nineveh, city of the Assyrians who are the bloodiest people of whom we read in the Old Testament.

These people are beyond the pale.

And yet, God issues them with a warning, sees their repentance and lovingly forgives them.

THAT is incomprehensible.

A God who acts with such unpredictability is not one that we can EVER fathom.

But it is a God in whom we can hope.

A God who is able to overcome violence, a God who can break into the hopeless patterns that we see in our world and turn things around.

Not by condemnation.

But by mercy.

No wonder Jonah was confused by such a God.

No wonder he refused to respond to the call of that God.

We’ve probably all, at some point, on hearing this story, thought Jonah foolish.

We’ve thought him foolish for trying to run away from God.

And then we’ve thought him foolish for getting angry with God for showing forgiveness.

And yet, Jonah’s actions are ones that we eschew often.

We are often diverted and take all sorts of circuitous routes to avoid the call of God.

And we often question God’s wisdom in meting out forgiveness in what seems to us a much too merciful fashion.

Anne Lamott said: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do”

Our gospel today, also encourages us to consider our response to God.

In typical Mark fashion, the call of the disciples is reported with urgency and immediacy.

When Jesus calls Simon and Andrew and James and John, they immediately leave everything and follow him.

Can we begin to imagine such a response?

Can we conceive of any situation that would result in us changing direction as drastically as the disciples did?

And if not, then HOW is the gospel message going to be communicated to today’s world?

What would it take to experience such conviction on our part, what would it take to change our lives as dramatically as were the lives of the people of Nineveh or those first disciples changed?

As we gather here week by week, is there anything that really gets to us.

Is there anything that would compel us to follow God’s call to live out the gospel in everyday life?

God IS merciful.

God is also demanding.

The demand on us is to hear God’s call for our lives, to follow Christ and to share the good news wherever God calls us to serve.

“Follow me, says Jesus, and I will make you fish for people.”

Resolution

2012-01-07T08:09:00.001Z

Sunday 8^th January 2012

Readings: Mark 1 v 4-11

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Mark 1: 4-11
 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

On Friday night, later on, I decided it would be good to make some warming soup for the weekend. But we didn’t have all the ingredients I needed to hand, so a trip to Morrison’s was required.

Walking down Castlehill Road, I reveled in that thing you do when you’re out walking about at night – looking in folks’ windows.

Isn’t it fun to see folks in their lit up houses and wonder what their lives are like.

Of course we will never know the true stories behind the lighted tableaux that we glimpse – but it is fun, just for a moment, to fabricate our own scenarios.

Like one elderly couple, sitting facing each other over their dining table, both with heads bowed over separate reading material.

Perhaps they were doing the crossword from the newspaper.

Perhaps they were reading spell binding books.

They looked as though they were enjoying a comfortable companionship, each submerged in whatever they were reading, with no need for chatter.

In a number of lighted windows, I glimpsed folk dismantling their Christmas trees, packing up and putting away their Christmas ornaments for another year.

I could imagine the struggle with tangled lights and boxes that seem to have shrunk since the decorations were taken from them.

One of my colleagues posted, tongue in cheek, on facebook this week: “Well, that’s Christmas all packed away in boxes and placed under the stairs for another year.”

The sad thing is, that for many folk, that IS the way it is.

Few of us even wait until 12^th night – which is Epiphany – to get cleared up and get things “back to normal”,

By the New Year, folk are tired of Christmas.

And, even sadder, they DO long to get it packed up and put away for another year.

Mark’s gospel, which we’ll be following this year, is a bit like that.

Down to business.

No fripperies.

In fact Mark’s gospel doesn’t even “do” Christmas.

It just launches straight in with an account of the grown up Jesus’ baptism.

And so, this morning, in our reading from Mark, we encounter, again, John the Baptist – Jesus’ cousin, sent to prepare the way – that strange figure who seems to have been a bit of a curiosity – living and dressing so differently from others of his day – but a curiosity who drew people to him.

For all his strangeness, perhaps BECAUSE of his strangeness, people flocked to the wilderness to see him and to hear his preaching.

It wasn’t even as if he was preaching a message of comfort or of solace.

John the Baptist’s was a message calling folk to repent – to change the way they lived.

And so, in Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ ministry begins quite abruptly - when he too goes to the wilderness to seek out John and be baptized by him.

Its that message that I’d like us to begin the New Year with here at Castlehill today, a message that God speaks to each of us:

“You are my child, beloved; with you I am well pleased”

Next week, in our service. we will celebrate the sacrament of baptism.

Every time we do that, here in our worship, we use these words as part of the liturgy:

“All of us gathered here represent the whole people of God; Sacraments bring us joy. They also bring us responsibility. Do you renew your commitment, with all God’s people, to share the knowledge and love of Christ?”

In assenting to these words, as we do every time we baptize, we affirm that Baptism, a huge blessing, also confers on us a huge responsibility.

It is blessing and responsibility that I’d like to focus on this early in the new year.

Blessing and responsibility.

The story of the people of God is one filled with the interweaving of blessing and responsibility.

God, from the beginning, called people, blessed them and led them into service.

Consider some of those Old Testament stories with which you might be familiar:

The story of Adam and Eve, blessed with abundance and, even when they abused that abundance, still being favoured by God and given work to do cultivating the earth.

The story of Noah, who lived in the knowledge of God and was commissioned to rescue his family and experience more blessings from God.

The story of Abraham, called at a great age, blessed with many descendants, commissioned to be father of a great nation.

Stories of Isaac and Jacob, of David and Solomon, of Ruth and Naomi, of Deborah and Rebekah.

All recorded in scripture as folk who were called and blessed by God and led into service that changed the lives of their contemporaries.

Called, blessed, serving.

Notice the order of that –

The calling.

The blessing.

The service.

That’s the way it remains today.

God’s blessing on our lives is not dependant on us, on how we live.

Although, often, the way we live might blind us to the abundance of God’s blessing, yet that blessing is freely given.

We are still, to God, beloved children.

Our response to the knowledge of the blessing of God, has to be – the willingness to serve.

And, indeed, we celebrate that, in baptism, we are blessed and commissioned.

The rite of baptism is our rite of passage into a life called by God into service.

Serving God is a response of faith and love to the blessing that God confers at baptism.

One of the best known biblical blessings is The Aaronic blessing – the one that we sing at baptism –

The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord make his face to shine upon you

And be gracious unto you

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you

And give you peace.

In our liturgy of baptism, we ask parents to profess their faith in the Triune God:

Do you believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

And on the strength of that belief, we baptize children into faith.

Baptism, as we celebrate it, is not conditional on us coming up to scratch – it depends, rather, on the amazing love of God being offered freely and without condition.

And, once the blessing of baptism is bestowed on a child of God, of whatever age, it is then that we seek promises of commitment – commitment from parents and commitment from all of us as the people of God.

Calling.

Blessing.

Service.
Baptism is not something we celebrate once and then discard.
The blessings and the responsibilities go on.
As does the blessing and responsibilty of Christmas.
Not everything is packed away - or can be packed away.
We still light the Christ candle.
We still celebrate Christ in our midst bringing us blessing and prompting us to serve.
Christmas lasts forever.
Baptism lasts for ever.

This Sunday, at the start of another year, I invite you to reflect on God’s blessing.

God calls and blesses each one of us here today.

Our response to that – is to celebrate God in our midst by loving and serving God more in the days to come.

Called.

Blessed.

Serving.

May that be the resolution of all involved in Castlehill Church this coming year:

A people called.

A people blessed.

A people serving God in love.

And to God be the glory.

Amen

Keeping the promises

2012-01-03T21:49:00.002Z

This Sunday offers lots of choice for preaching. Although last week was New Year's Day, there was little focus on new beginnings, instead making the most of the last opportunity, for this year, to sing favourite Christmas Carols and hear again the readings of the season.
We could also choose to celebrate Epiphany or the baptism of our Lord.
As well as all this, it is also an opportunity to embark on the gospel of Mark. Although the new church year starts at the beginning of Advent and we move onto a different gospel, celebrating Advent and Christmas often deflects us from the gospel lectionary. Mark's gospel, which features this year, has an urgency about it - it launches straight into Jesus' ministry - no pfaffing around with Nativity narratives. And so, this year, I'm going to leave out the story of the wise men following the star but, hopefully, still capture something of the Epiphany - bringing startling light into our lives today.
Our sacrament of infant baptism recognises the grace of God offered freely - even to those who "do not yet know or understand". As a community of believers, however, we promise, together, to support each other in sharing the love of God with all God's children. And so, at the beginning of this New Year, we will explore that task and, hopefully, recommit ourselves to fulfilling it. Our task, as a community of faith, is to believe for those who can't.
The text for Sunday is here.

Hope on the margins

2011-12-04T07:20:00.000Z

Sunday 4^th December 2011

Readings: Mark 1 v 1-8

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,  who will prepare your way;  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:  “Prepare the way of the Lord,  make his paths straight” ’,  John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

“Painting the Forth Bridge” is a saying that we commonly use to describe a never ending task – For around 120 years, this myth has been perpetuated in colloquial speech.

Painting the Forth Bridge has become a modern day legend, like a contemporary version of the Greek myth of Sisyphus.

But, on 9^th December, just 5 days time, this myth is about to end.

Next Friday, painters, who have for the past ten years, been coating the bridge with a special long life paint, will down tools.

And the bridge shouldn’t need painted for another 25 years.

The Forth Bridge – a familiar landscape that is changing.

Such winds of change propelled John the Baptist into the gospel story.

In a time of political and cultural unrest, all that was familiar was changing.

And so, when John the Baptist appeared, preaching a gospel of repentance, people flocked to see him and to hear him.

Here were people trying to live out their ancient faith in the midst of a vastly changed landscape.

No longer was faith at the centre of the life of the nation but on the periphery.

And so the beginning of Mark’s gospel takes us out to the wilderness – to meet John the Baptist, the messenger sent to call the people back to faith and direct them to the one who is to come.

And while his message of repentance might sound harsh to us today, to his listeners it was indeed good news.

Good news of prophecy being fulfilled, of all that they had longed for coming to fruition.

John the Baptist in all his strangeness and austerity was the one sent by God to preach the good news.

And the people flocked, not only to hear him but to repent and be baptised.

John the Baptist took the good news of God’s love back where it belongs – on the margins of society, to those who are tired, defeated and ground down by the rigours of daily life.

John took the good news to those who had lost almost everything, except hope.

It was hope that propelled folk out of their usual surroundings to the wilderness where John was preaching.

It was hope that kept them there, hanging on to his every word and making a response in baptism.

How often have we rejected what we need to hear because of who it comes from or where we hear it?

Or because it wasn’t quite what we wanted to hear.

We’re all good at filtering news so that we take in – and pass on – only those bits that we deem to be useful.

And, in doing that, we often dilute the message or miss the point altogether.

Maybe we’re not prepared to hear the gospel in a different way or in a different place.

And even less prepared to take the good news to the margins of our society.

Crashing into our Advent season comes John the Baptist, to tear our attention away from the distractions that assail us at this time of year – at any time of year – away from the glitter and tinsel, the shiny distractions that take our attention away from the heart of our faith.

The distractions that provide for us a way out of being challenged by the gospel, that help us remain in our cosy complacency, that make us feel busy with important things and thus avoid the uncomfortable challenge that is contained in the gospel – the challenge to repent, the challenge to share the good news in a way that speaks to and reaches out to those who need to hear it most and, in so doing, be convicted ourselves to change our ways to accommodate God who came among us and lives on in our lives.

The good news that we preach speaks to us too.

The good news proclaims for us a way forward in the uncertainty of the world and of the church.

A way forward in our changed landscape.

The familiar things we cherished, the old ways and traditions, packed churches and faith respected if not embraced.

How is it possible to follow Jesus, to proclaim good news in this changed landscape?

That involves embracing the hope that is also a theme of the Advent season.

Embracing hope that the one for whom John was sent to prepare the way is still able to bring light into the darkness of our world today.

In OUR changed landscape, we need hope more than ever.

Instead of lamenting how difficult it is to see God.

Instead of harking back to the way things were.

Instead of despairing of decline in the church and of lowered standards in the world.

How about looking for God in unexpected places.

Hearing the good news from unexpected people.

Being prepared to change ourselves so that God can transform us.

Waking up to the fact that God lives at the margins of life.

This is nothing new, it has always been so.

That is why, in Advent, our texts call us back to reality.

A reality that enables us to welcome the baby born in Bethlehem from a changed perspective.

A reality that takes us out of our cosy sentimental preparation into a more challenging, life changing preparation.

The kind of preparation that belongs, not here in this building but out at the margins of our society.

And, in this changed landscape to discover anew that the life changing word of God is still good news.

They flocked to see him, this wild prophet.

Out of curiosity?

Out of novelty?

Out of boredom?

He was certainly a sight to behold.

And he didn’t mince his words.

He told it straight.

Dressed nothing up.

Yet, still folk wanted to listen.

Maybe tired of being spoon fed

and molly-coddled.

They realised they needed to hear

something more challenging.

It wasn’t a message of comfort

but, in a strange way,

it was a message of hope.

And, somehow, the starkness

made it more real.

What if we stopped dressing up the story

and allowed the truth to emerge?

Being a messenger might involve

saying the things

that no one wants to hear

and showing a way

that no one wants to follow.

Shaking folk out of their complacency

to look toward the light.

May the gospel we have shared today confront and challenge us.

May it help us make sense of the changed landscape in which we find ourselves.

May it propel us out to the margins of our society as we take up the call to “Prepare the way of the Lord”

Seeing God

2011-11-20T01:19:00.000Z

Sunday 20^th November

Reading: Matthew 25 v 31-46

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,

and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'

And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'

We read these words from Matthew’s gospel a few weeks ago at the BB Dedication
Service.
By them, I was hoping to encourage the boys – and all of us, that whatever we do for
others, no matter how insignificant we might think our deeds are, in serving others, we serve God and bring the Kingdom of Heaven that wee bit closer.
I’m sure those of you who managed that day appreciated hearing about the boys’
Romanian trip and the work they did there – as well as the opportunity to meet some
of the folk with whom they worked.
But what struck me even more was the effect that their summer trip has had on the
boys themselves.
They did a ton of good work.
They made a difference.
But they received much as well.
Lots of parents have mentioned to me since, how much their son got out of the trip.
How what they saw and were part of has changed them in small but significant ways.
Isn’t that so often the way of things?
That when we serve others, we ourselves are blessed.
Often, when we reflect on our good fortune – when we count our blessings- we
consider ourselves in a position to give.
It’s always good to recognise our capacity to serve others.
But we overlook our capacity to be served – to know the blessings that others, whom we may consider need our help, can bring to us.
We, who consider ourselves ministers are those who are ministered to.

In the church’s calendar, this is the end of the year – next week is Advent Sunday – the start of a brand new year in the church.
The gospel we have focussed on this year has been Matthew – next week, we begin a
year journeying with Mark’s gospel to accompany us.
Matthew’s gospel is very concerned with how we practise faith – the practicalities of
living out our faith.
Early on in the gospel, in the beatitudes, Jesus teaches of how those who are blessed
are the poor, the bereaved, the hungry, the thirsty – in other words, those
marginalised and expelled to the fringes of society.
Here, towards the end of the gospel, Matthew points us to the notion that, not only
are those on the fringes blessed – Christ lives in them!
The way Matthew’s gospel is arranged, this passage about the sheep and the goats
comes just before we get into the passion narratives and start to read about Jesus’
suffering and death.
So, almost immediately before we read of Jesus in the upper room, stooping to wash the disciples feet, we find this major focus on Christ as king –
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
And so, before we enter into the season of Advent, we pause to celebrate this as Christ the King Sunday.
But what kind of king?
A king who hangs out with the outcasts, a king who serves others, a king who gets down and dirty with the people.
A king whom we can glimpse as we look at each other.

I feel as though I’ve preached this passage lots of times now – it seems to pop up a lot.
But every time, something new jumps out.
This week, I was struck by the fact that it wasn’t just the goats who couldn’t see Jesus in those who needed help – in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the prisoner.
But the sheep, those whom Jesus calls blessed – they failed to recognize Jesus too.
It seems a shame that if we are going to show compassion, if we are going to reach out to others, that, even though we’re doing the right thing, even though we’re serving God in others, it seems a shame that we don’t recognize Jesus.
It’s possible to go through the motions and not feel the blessing.
It’s possible to serve others but not be aware of Christ present in their lives and in ours.

As we embark on the season of Advent, perhaps that could be one of our spiritual disciplines – to increase our awareness of Christ around us – to look harder to see Christ in our everyday, especially in the folk we encounter.We who profess to know Christ have no excuse for not serving Christ in our everyday.
And looking others in the eye, we should be able to see Christ’s face.

There is no avoiding the fact that this gospel passage contains words of judgement –
the sheep are separated from the goats and the goats are cast out.
Of course we’d like to count ourselves among the sheep – the blessed.
We might even have an idea of who would come into the goat category.
If we’re honest we might even be prepared to admit that sometimes we act like the
sheep who are blessed and, at other times we act like the goats who are cursed.
But judgement is not ours to make.
What we are called to is service.
Serving Christ by serving each other.
Looking for – and finding – Christ in the least of these.

As we come to the end of the church’s year and prepare to embark on another Advent, prepare to welcome again the Christ child, may our eyes be open to Christ fully grown in those around us and may we reach out to the least of these with the compassion of Christ the servant king.

Amen

God as we hail you today,

Christ the King,

we ponder the kingly image

that you portray:

a hungry king,

a thirsty king,

a king bedraggled,

homeless,

sitting on our kerbsides,

ignored by your subjects.

Quietly you wait for us to notice

and take action:

to lift you out of the gutter,

to clothe you

and feed you

and care for you.

You do not cry out,

you simply wait and hope.

Christ the King,

as your hopes are dashed time and again,

awaken us and shake us

out of our complacency

by your quiet, persistent loving.

May we reach out to you

by reaching out to each other

and to those who live in the gutters

in our neighbourhoods.

Help us to do this

without seeking recognition

but simply because we can do no other.

Children of light

2011-11-12T23:47:00.000Z

1 Thessalonians 5 v 1-11

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.
Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

We've spent the day photographing local war memorials to use in worship tomorrow. Many different shapes and sizes, colours and hues, depicting lives lost in so many different parts of the world. Each name carved in stone carries a story - of bravery, of fear, of heroism, of sacrifice, of loved ones left behind whose lives were changed forever by loss. Hopefully, our Remembrance services tomorrow will allow us to remember those loved ones alongside the military personnel, to remember those whose names are not recorded but who also paid the price of war - civilians keeping homes running and factories working and munition stocks up.
As "Children of the Light", as described in our reading, we live in hope - the hope that we will no longer need to build memorials to those killed in war because we have discovered the pathway to peace.

Remember, remember...

2011-11-05T23:25:00.002Z

Remember, remember the fifth of November

gunpowder, treason and plot

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot

The night sky has been a riot of colour as we celebrate Guy Fawkes. Remembering in the season of Remembrance.
Joshua, that great leader who led the Israelites into the promised land, succeeding Moses, gathers the people together to remember. He reminds them of the people with whom they journeyed and the trials they endured and, through it all, the faithfulness of God. And then Joshua challenges them: Remembering this history - whom will you serve? Joshua strikes, for the people, a new covenant with God.
Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
It would seem that we are good at the rituals of remembrance. Those we can do. Our rituals become ever more elaborate and inventive. It's letting our remembrance make a difference that we're not so good at.
We remember some awful things yet fail to learn from them, fail to live differently in order to avoid history being repeated.
A new covenant, choosing to serve God, might help us honour the saints we remember, the living and the dead by committing ourselves to seek peace and practice justice. Until then, our remembering means nothing.

Community is... Passing on the vision

2011-10-22T17:41:00.000+01:00

Readings: Deuteronomy 34 v 1-12

Matthew 22 v 34-40

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain--that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees--as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, "I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there."   5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command. 6 He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.   9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12 and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Last week , we attended worship at a tiny church in the village of Collouire in the South of France. It was part of the Reformed church in France. I don’t have a lot of French but I followed the gist of the sermon, helped by the fact that the preacher was using the lectionary, the prescribed readings for that Sunday. It’s one of the things I love about following the lectionary is the idea that churches all over the world, in all sorts of places, different denominations in different languages are, together, struggling with the same texts.

And so, in that little church in France, I was enabled to hear the word of God, a word of challenge and a word of grace.

That afternoon, as we wandered around the village, we were stopped, literally, in our tracks by this colourful jazz band. (pic)

Just a foretaste of the wonderful, fun music we are enjoying this morning. (praise is led by Rae Bros New Orleans Jazz Band)

The promised land is sure to be full of jazz musicians.

What of that Promised Land?

Over these last few weeks we have journeyed, perhaps slogged might be a better description, with Moses and the Israelites, through the wilderness from their flight from Egypt to their journey to the Promised Land.

We have read stories of challenge and confrontation, of triumph and failure.

Today, Moses bids farewell.

That intrepid leader who has overcome all sorts of difficulties, who has conquered personal inadequacies, who has communed with God on the mountain top and then endured the grumbling of the people he led, Moses, within sight of the Promised Land, has to bid us farewell.

After all that he has achieved and all that he has endured, Moses doesn’t actually get to enter the promised land.

But he does get to see it.

There, on the Mountain top, it is laid out before him.

There’s a lovely detail in the passage that Moses’ sight was not impaired and his vigor was unabated – and so he was able to see in all it’s glory, this land promised to the Israelites.

With this sight burning in his mind and with passion still in his heart, Moses died.

The Israelites buried Moses, mourned him for 30 days and then moved on with their new leader, Joshua.

But what a wonderful epitaph we read:

Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12 and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

It is the end AND a beginning.

As the baton of leadership is passed from the elder statesman Moses to the younger but still wise Joshua.

Why was this passage so smooth?

Why does it appear seamless?

Because, although the leadership has changed, although there was the inevitable mourning of a great leader, the vision that the Israelites followed was one rooted, not in humans but in God – the passion that endured was founded on the will and purpose of God.

As it has been in the church from generation to generation,

Leaders pass on the baton and the vision remains rooted in God.

There will always be the grumblers, always the skeptics, always those small minded enough to want to hold things back.

But God’s vision to which we subscribe is so much bigger.

God’s vision sees beyond the pettiness and all the attempts at holding back progress.

God’s vision leads us on to a land and a life we can only imagine, bound as we are in human concepts.

Consider this quote from Oscar Romero:

“The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our wisdom. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No program accomplishes our mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”

And the promise from today’s story is that God’s kingdom will come despite us, the followers of God. Even with all our stubbornness and pride we cannot hold back God’s mission.

THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS.

Fraser Aitken, from St Columba’s posted on facebook yesterday:

“What a comfort this passage is to leaders of the church today”.

That notion that if we are faithful in leadership, though we may not see the fruit of our labour, God’s plans will not be thwarted.

No matter how many obstacles we encounter, no matter how difficult it is to get people to change, to look outwards instead of inwards, to glimpse a vision much bigger than ours, God continues to lead us on beyond the present to a wonderful future.

Supposing then, that we choose not to be a stumbling block.

Suppose we were to embrace God’s vision wholeheartedly.

Where would we begin?

Jesus answer to his antagonists in the gospel provides for us the answer to that question.

6 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 37 He said to him, " "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Living like that, discovering HOW to love God by practicing love on our neighbours allows us to glimpse a vision of that new Kingdom that is God’s will for us – that kingdom where people live in love able to enjoy all that God promises to us.

Able to live in love because we are no longer squabbling for position, no longer holding back, no longer grappling for power but living in love with each other and with God.

Loving each other teaches us how to truly love God.

Loving like that takes us right to the heart of God.

As those entrusted today with passing on that baton of love, may we be enabled to lay down all that holds us back, may we stop being stumbling blocks to the kingdom and, instead love until we know the heart of God and see God’s vision come to life in this place, for this time and for this people that we are called to serve.

COMMUNITY IS… PASSING ON THE VISION

A vison fulfilled in God's own time, a vision that we work towards by loving God and our neighbour.

To God be the glory.

Amen

Community is... Trusting together

2011-10-09T02:18:00.000+01:00

Reading: Exodus 32 v 1-14

Matthew 22 v 1-14

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Many tributes have been paid this week to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple inc who died tragically early.

He leaves a huge legacy in his technological innovations, innovations that have revolutionised the world of computing and global communication.

Not just the I phone and I pod and I pad but an inspiring story of amazing entrepreneurship and motivation

I saw a cartoon depicting Steve Jobs arriving at the pearly gates. St Peter is paging through a huge roll book, looking for Steve’s name. Steve tells him: I have an app for that.

Steve did in fact create and encourage others to create and circulate many apps that make life much easier and convenient.

But what struck me about the notion contained in that cartoon – is the idea of even heaven moving with the times, heaven being brought into the technological age.

And a God who not only imparts wisdom but also listens to and learns from humans.

The God we worship is a God of relationships.

And that is certainly a theme in our readings this morning.

Having got the people out of slavery in Egypt, God is building a relationship with those people.

Through Moses, God gave the people the ten commandments – rules that would help the community to live rightly together.

Rules, as we discovered last week that would not inhibit but would enhance relationships and community life.

Moses, after receiving the 10 commandments spends time on the mountain conversing with God.

Leaving his brother Aaron in charge.

And while Moses and God get to know each other better, the people decide to rebel.

Their rebellion consists of spectacularly breaking the first and second commandment – they make for themselves a God to take the place of the God who has led them out of Egypt.

Moses was nowhere in sight.

And, though God had proved to be faithful throughout their journey, the people’s sight was very short – as was their memory.

They demanded something more immediate and obvious.

How many of us have demanded at times, that God should be more evident?

How often have we wished that God would be more direct and not keep us guessing?

That’s exactly the sort of wrestling that’s going on in the minds of the people of Israel with both God and Moses out of their sight just when, more than anything, they need stability and assurance.

You’d think that, being left in charge of the people, Aaron would have been on his guard.

The track record is that the people are quarrelsome and argumentative as we have seen over these past few weeks journeying with them through the wilderness.

And, sure enough, after a short time with Aaron in charge, they get restless again.

They ask Aaron to make them a god whom they can worship and who can go before them.

And Aaron, although he knew well that it was wrong to do as they asked, wanted to please the people.

Aaron compromised what was right in exchange for a quieter life.

A strategy that was bound to come crashing down around him.

But a strategy that we see played out time and again in communities and in the church.

Popularity is not won by making difficult decisions – decisions that folk probably won’t like – even though they know them to be right.

All of us are susceptible to compromising our faith just so that we won’t rock the boat.

We may not instigate wrong things but, so often, we go along with them, we tolerate the wrong so that we don’t give offence or draw attention to ourselves.

God’s call to us as a community is to be strong together - to trust together and, together, find strength to stand against evil in our world.

But then the story takes an interesting turn.

God sees what is going on and urges Moses to return to the people quickly so that they can be destroyed for their wickedness.

And that is when we see something of the fruit of the time that Moses has spent with God on the mountain – and probably also something of all the lessons he has learned as they’ve journeyed through the wilderness:

Moses has been developing a relationship with God, a relationship that allows him to converse with God and plead for the people.

Moses has learned enough, from spending time with God, to know that the love of God is sufficient to overcome all difficulties. Moses has learned that, no matter how far people stray, God’s love will always be big enough to allow people a way back to a healed relationship with God.

Moses has learned that God is not a distant, vengeful being but is a God who invites involvement and who invokes love and compassion before condemnation.

God is a God of relationships.

A God who is prepared to listen as well as to speak.

A God who is moved by the plight of people.

All this, Moses has learned as he has developed a new relationship with God.

And Moses has also learned how fragile are the people he has been chosen to lead.

He knows their weakness and their fickleness.

He knows how short their memories are.

He knows that they constantly have to be reminded of the goodness of God and of God’s faithfulness.

Moses knows that his leadership must be firm and conciliatory.

Not compromised.

But strong and loving.

It was strength and love that allowed Moses to plead with God to stick with the Israelites and love them back onto the right path no matter how far they strayed.

These are lessons that are not learned once and for all.

They are lessons that are gleaned from relationship.

We learn about the nature of God by nurturing our relationship with God.

And, every day, we learn a little bit more – sometimes more of the same, for we constantly need reminding about the nature of God – and sometimes, God reveals new things.

That’s a wonderful thing – no matter how long we journey with God, still there is more to learn, still there are more and wonderful facets of God to be revealed.

In the gospels, we find Jesus teaching about God in so many different ways.

Not least in the parables he shared.

The parable we read today, of the feast to which those who were originally invited did not come must have had quite an impact on the people who were there at the telling.

It spoke forcibly into a culture where there were very defined social roles and norms.

And cut across those traditions.

Those who would normally be expected to attend such a great feast excluded themselves and so the invitation list was broadened.

This parable points to an inclusiveness that Jesus is keen to emphasise throughout his ministry, much to the disgust of the religious leaders of the day, those who were keen to guard the faith.

All are welcome to the feast.

The table that Jesus sets, as we proclaim every time we celebrate communion, has no boundaries but is open to all.

So, what on earth is going on at the end of this story, when one reveler is ejected for being improperly dressed?

What’s THAT all about?

OF course this parable, like the other parables Jesus told, may speak in different ways to different people at different times.

But I believe that for this people today – for us as a community journeying together, learning to trust, this parable is a reminder of the transformative nature of our relationship with God.

We are all called.

We are all equipped to be God’s people, given all that we need to form a relationship with God.

But sometimes, we distance ourselves from the community by holding back.

By not giving as we could or as we should.

Although we might believe all that God promises, we fail to be changed by living into those promises.

Trusting together is not a matter for our intellect or our emotion.

IT is a total transformation of our whole being.

Trusting God together in community involves our whole lives.

Anything less leads to us excluding ourselves from the amazing grace and transforming love of God.

You are called.

I am called.

Called to be part of this trusting community.

May we be enabled to abandon ourselves to the transforming power of God as we journey together in community, trusting God in all things.

Amen.

Community is... Living rightly

2011-10-02T20:38:00.001+01:00

Considering the 10 commandments this morning, we discovered that things are easier with instructions - though we can often get by without. Gregor even managed to create this "church" from a dinosaur kit!
In spite of everyone's inventiveness and creativity, we concluded that rules are good for keeping us together and on the better path.
And so, with the help of the Israelites in the wilderness, we discovered another aspect of being a community of God's people - living rightly.

Community is... hard work!

2011-09-24T14:09:00.000+01:00

25th September 2011

Readings: Exodus 17 v 1-7

Matthew 21 v 23-32

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Guess what?

The Israelites are grumbling again!

I’m off to a Ministries Council consultation later this week – and I’m sure the grumbling that will happen there will put the Israelites in the shade.

There’s nothing like a gathering of ministers for upping the stakes in grumbling.

UNLESS – it’s a gathering of Facebook users.

This week, Facebook, which is a FREE of charge social networking site, changed its layout and set up – and cyber space was filled with grumbling.

We just get used to things, whatever those things may be – and are not good at processing change.

Even when we would freely admit to the flaws or inadequacies in ways or routines with which we have become familiar, we still resist any change.

You may have heard on the news at the end of last week that scientists in Geneva are challenging the theory of relativity.

E = mc²

A constant of Physics asserts that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.

Even that Einstein formula is being called into question!

Although there are many more checks to be made to confirm this, it seems that nothing is sacred.

Nothing escapes the need for change.

The church, nationally and locally, is going through massive change right now - maybe it’s always been so.

But does everything have to change at once?

Perhaps it does

Few of us would deny that change is needed – but getting there is always painful.

And, it seems, any and every setback gives us license to complain and forget about all the progress that is being made, forget about the purpose of change – to get us to a better place – forget about why we’ve embarked on the journey – and long for things to go back to the way they were, even though we know that’s not right either.

Any change that is worthwhile comes at a cost.

Of course we manage transition really well in the church.

Whenever there’s even a hint of something changing successfully, we simply set up a committee to get to grips with whatever is happening and slowly and surely bring change to a grinding halt.

That is why I refuse to have committees progressing work here at Castlehill but insist on Working Groups – to do what it says on the label.

Community is hard work.

And change comes at a cost.

Even for those of us who wholeheartedly embrace change, there comes an impatience in the transition.

We may not like where we are.

We may have a clear idea of where we want to be.

But the journey there will always be painful.

And, along the way, there is always the temptation to long for things to go back to the way they were.

It takes a LOT of courage to stick it out and reach that promised land.

The history of every congregation, even one as young as Castlehill, is littered with the bones of those who have perished along the way – I don’t mean the saints, those we love and miss – I mean the folks who just didn’t have the stamina for the journey, those who became weary of the constant struggle, those who opted out, those who went off in search of something comfortably more familiar.

Not all of those Israelites who started on the journey out of Egypt made it to the Promised Land.

But, at crucial points along the way, when the grumbling reached fever pitch, God reminded them who was in control.

Bread from heaven.

Water from a rock.

Gifts in the right place at the right time.

Signs pointing forward, encouraging all who were in danger of giving up on the struggle.

Where are those signs for us today?

Where do we find God gently or not so gently reminding us that we too need to make quite a trek to get to where we need to be?

Where are the signs of God’s affirming and nurturing along the way?

Like the Israelites, are we asking: “Is God with us or not?”

Are we finding the reassurance that God is with us?

And, with that reassurance, are we finding the strength to carry on into territory that God has prepared for us?

I came across a picture the other day – an artist’s impression of the sanctuary when it was first built.

IT showed the church and hall and manse surrounded by fields with horses grazing.

What a transformation in the area around the church, a transformation that I know many of you remember and, more importantly, survived.

This church extension charge, built as a symbol of hope on the edge of an expanding town, has grown through the years to serve an ever expanding parish and is uniquely placed and uniquely called to continue to do that.

And , just as the landscape around the building has changed, so has the work that we seek to do.

Those halcyon days when a minister would be on your doorstep as soon as the removal van pulled up.

Or the days when your neighbour would invite you to a social in the church hall or to the young mother’s fellowship or when you’d be asked to come along to help build or paint or clean – those opportunities have become memories.

But still, there is no shortage of other opportunities.

Still our hope and vision as God’s people in this place is to serve the community around us and share the wonderful news of God’s love and presence in all of life.

Yes, that community is vastly changed.

And so we, the people of God today, need to find out how to continue God’s mission for this day.

The signs that we still have hope and vision are found, not in our words but in our actions.

That story Jesus told – of the two sons being asked to go and work in their father’s vineyard – One said he would go and didn’t. The other said he wouldn’t go and then did.

That story sums up our predicament.

Are we journeying with God?

Is God in our midst?

Do we still have faith in the vision and the promise into which God leads us?

If we do, then our actions have to match our words.

What we say in this sacred space must mirror what we do in all the places that God makes sacred in our community.

We cannot go back – no matter how much we might want to.

And the past wasn’t all that we have painted it to be.

So let’s re commit ourselves today to the hope and the vision into which God leads us.

Let us re commit ourselves by our words and our actions to engaging in the hard work that is community.

Let us recognize the gifts with which God surrounds us – bread from heaven, water from a rock and all manner of things in between and see these as signs that God continues to lead us onward.

And let us be strengthened by God to continue the journey.

COMMUNITY IS HARD WORK.

Thanks be to God.

Community is... being in God.

2011-09-11T00:23:00.001+01:00

11th September 2011

Readings: Exodus 14 v 10-18

Matthew 18 v 15-20

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Last week we began our journey with the Israelites as they left Egypt and became a Community on the move – a community called out of all that they knew to follow God.

Today, as we continue to journey with them, we encounter them learning to trust God, who says to them “Do not be afraid”.

Time and again as they journey through the wilderness, God repeats that message “Do not be afraid”.

So, following on from last week’s theme: Community is… on the move, today we consider that Community is… being in God.

This ancient story of the parting of the waters was told – and is read today – as a reminder of the presence of God in all of life.

In deliverance AND in destruction.

I find this story disturbing because in the deliverance of the Israelites, the Egyptians were destroyed.

And the God in whom I believe, the God whom I want to reveal present in all of life is not a God who takes sides.

But maybe, just maybe, there is a message of warning in this ancient story:

Pharaoh, after every plague, promised to set the Israelites free.

And, each time, he reneged on that promise.

Then came the Passover – the last plague, when all the first born Egyptian sons were killed.

It was then that Pharaoh let the Israelites go.

But, as he saw them making good their escape, he had yet another change of heart and took his army and pursued them.

And there comes a time when there is no going back.

A time when we press the self destruct button once too often.

Sometimes, even God is helpless to protect us when we continually put ourselves out of God’s reach and choose, instead to go our own way.

Community is BEING IN GOD.

We, as a community of faith, are called to witness to God’s presence.

God present in and with creation.

So what ARE the signs today of God present in our lives?

And when we discern God’s presence, how do we communicate that to others?

As a community of faith we are called, not just to be a community on the move, willing to step outside the walls that we build.

We are called to be a community that mirrors God present in everyday life.

In our gospel, Jesus, who came to earth to show God, teaches of conflict resolution.

He teaches that we should go to great lengths to resolve dispute.

But, if resolution is not possible, then what should we do?

If resolution is not possible, says Jesus, we should treat those who have wronged us as Gentiles or as tax collectors.

Harsh words, it would seem – for Gentiles and tax collectors were people despised in Jesus’ day.

Until we remember how Jesus treated such outcasts.

Jesus sat at table with tax collectors.

Jesus invited Gentiles into the Kingdom of God.

So, it would seem, there is always, but always, room for forgiveness.

However difficult or however unlikely, Jesus exhorts us, as a community of believers, as people of faith witnessing to God’s presence today, to practise forgiveness.

Why should we adhere to that teaching?

Why should we continue to forgive when wronged?

The clue to that lies in the last few verses we read:

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Learning and practising forgiveness sets us free.

We have witnessed that freedom in people who have managed to forgive the most heinous crimes against themselves and their loved ones.

Their forgiveness is not just a cosy sentiment but a real heart wrenching yet life giving labour of love, one that doesn’t come cheap but one which brings true freedom.

Today as we mark 10 years since 9/11, forgiveness shows us a way forward through the melee of extremism and mistrust and revenge that seems to prevail.

The images of violence perpetrated in the name of justice are brought to us every day.

Revenge seems to have been deemed a human right.

I was disturbed, back in May, to see folks dancing in the streets when Osama Bin Laden was killed.

There was just something very unseemly about celebrating the death of another, no matter how evil.

His death did not bring about justice but, in fact, fuelled yet more violence.

The notion of celebrating the death of enemies IS a very biblical image.

Throughout the Old Testament we read of victory songs and celebrations after massacre and war.

However Jesus came to change all that.

Jesus came to show that there is another way.

The way of love.

And the way of forgiveness.

10 years ago today, I was putting the finishing touches to my preparations for a communion service for Presbytery at which I was to celebrate as moderator of the Presbytery.

From my office at the hospital, I popped upstairs to one of the wards and heard the news that the first of the twin towers had been struck.

The two emotions I can remember most clearly were:

Disbelief that this was an act of terrorism – although it was a grave tragedy however caused, somehow a terrible accident rather than calculated evil seemed preferable.The attack on the second tower quickly dispelled that somewhat bizarre hope.

But the other emotion I remember was one of panic – the words I had carefully chosen and the service I had painstakingly put together for the Presbytery Communion would now have to be drastically changed.

An emotion that seems incredibly shallow as events unfolded and the scale of the terrorism became clear.

What also became clear was that there were no words that could express the horror of how far humanity had fallen, how grotesquely we had obscured the image of God in which we were made.

I know that most of you could say exactly where you were and what you were doing when you learned of 9/11.

All week we have been bombarded with programmes on TV and radio about the day that changed the world.

This morning, I’d like to ask: Was that change for the better?

10 years after 9/11 are we any closer to a world that promotes peace loving communities?

And do our communities testify to the presence of God?

As people were facing the last few minutes of life, whether in a plane bound for destruction or a building from which there was no escape, they were not shouting words of revenge.

They were calling loved ones, speaking words of love and forgiveness, making peace.

Those were the emotions that folk wanted to express, the imprints they wanted to leave behind.

At the hospital where I worked and, in churches all over, people wanted to come together, to be in community and to re-experience the presence of God in the midst of life as scary as it was right then.

And amid all the carnage and the terror.

In the wake of all the revenge since exacted in our name by violent and war hungry governments, where are there signs of a community that displays its BEING IN GOD?

The quest for revenge.

And the war mongering that prevails

Are fuelled by fear.

We, as a community of faith are called to move beyond fear – to hope.

That is what will change the present climate.

That is what will move us from hate and violence, from the quest for revenge, to peace and forgiveness.

Not a neat, easy forgiveness that comes at no cost.

But a forgiveness that has been wrought against all the odds.

A forgiveness that comes through love, transforming the world, encouraging the move from fear of the next attack to hope for peace in our time.

Community is BEING IN GOD – the God of love and of peace and of forgiveness.

As a community of faith may we practice forgiveness until we get it right witnessing to God in all of life.

for the glory of God.

Amen

Community is...On the move

2011-09-03T21:39:00.000+01:00

Reading: Exodus 12 v 1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. ⁴If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. ¹⁰You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. ¹²For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Today probably marks for us as a community together, the start of a new session.

We’re back to 11am worship.

All the organisations are restarting.

And we celebrate communion together.

Over the next few weeks, our readings in worship will take us on a journey with the Israelites as they find their way out of Egypt and are led through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Voice A: Are you ready?

Voice B:Stick, sandals, stomach ache… ugh!

A: What a feast, eh? Roast lamb on the hoof!

B: We had goat, and there’s not a hoof among them by the way…

A: I always wondered what roasted lamb lungs tasted like… not bad at all!

B: Haggis by any other name… yeuch!

A: For once I was glad of our huge family, we scoffed the lot no bother!

B: For once I was glad of our greedy guzzler Joe next door, always sticking his nose in when anybody’s cooking, this time I said, have as much as you like Joe, really!

A: Fast food, it’s the in thing and I’m all for it, Uncle Zeb couldn’t do his usual and talk the hind legs off a donkey all through dinner!

B: Joe would eat the hind legs off a donkey, that’s for sure.

A: I’ve got a great feeling, you know!

B: I’ve got a terrible feeling— indigestion!

A: But are you ready?

B: I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready. I’m not going to eat for a week, or a fortnight, or a month. What month is it anyway?

A: It’s the first month.

B: The first month of what?

A: The first month of our new futures.

B: I don’t think the Egyptians are going to like that.

A: They don’t have to like it. We’re not going to be around to find out.

B: Do you think the blood on the door will keep us safe?

A: Let’s hope so.

(Pause)

B: Can you hear wailing?

A: It’s started. Let’s go

The story of the Passover is a story that is retold in Jewish homes year after year during Passover festival.

The story is kept alive through the tradition of children asking questions which the adults answer – and so the story is retold and passed on from generation to generation.

The Passover meal which is then shared pays tribute to the sorrow and grief that is a part of the story by including bitter herbs.

But this first Passover was strikingly different from any celebrations that are marked today.

Whenever and wherever communities celebrate by sharing a meal together, we make ourselves comfortable.

We kick back and relax.

No such luxury in this first Passover.

There’s an urgency about this meal.

You can almost imagine the Israelites, standing up to eat, with their coats on and their bags packed.

They had been given very specific instructions:

¹¹This is how you shall eat( it): your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat( it) hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord.

This is a community who are about to go on a journey – a journey that some of them will not complete.

God is calling them TO MOVE.

And it’s going to be a very long time before they are settled again.

Over the next few weeks, as we travel through Scripture with the Israelites, we’re going to consider different aspects of Community.

And, today, we’re considering a community that is ON THE MOVE.

The Israelites were being oppressed in Egypt.

They were used as slaves.

And their culture and tradition was being eroded.

But, for many, it was all they had known.

And, you know what they say: Better the devil you know…

Sometimes it is easier to simply put up with things – just go along with things, even when we know they’re wrong – all for the sake of peace.

And, even though the Israelites were living in appalling conditions, it was too daunting for many of them to contemplate anything else.

Especially when they couldn’t be sure that they had any better alternative.

But God called them, to leave behind all that they knew, to pack up everything and go, with Moses, into an unknown future.

To have faith that God would lead them onward into something better.

So we find a community preparing to move.

Following God’s instructions to eat the Passover meal, prepared and partaken exactly as instructed and then to go, following God on a journey into the unknown.

That Passover lamb was going to have to sustain them for quite some time as they journeyed in obedience to God’s call.

A community on the move.

Today, in our settled community here at Castlehill, we’ve kind of forgotten that God’s call to us is to be a people on the move – a community that isn’t by any means settled, a community that is constantly being called and poked and prodded by God to get moving.

And this communion Sunday, heralding the start of a new session’s work here, the food that we share together, Christ’s body and blood provides that sustenance that we need to be a people on the move.

The community surrounding this building, the parish that we serve, needs us to move in response to God’s call, away from all that we know, out of all that makes us comfortable, in response to God’s call to journey together.

It is wonderful to feel part of a community.

Often when I’m walking or driving around the parish, especially in some of the harder to find streets, I remember back to the first few weeks when we arrived here.

When I was constantly getting lost.

There was many a time I was grateful to catch sight of the cross on the top of the church and get my bearings again.

But now, as people and places become quite familiar, I feel settled, at home.

That settled feeling, that sense of community is not without struggle and conflict but it is, nonetheless a good feeling to belong in community.

The caution that I believe comes to us from our Old Testament reading this morning, is that the community that we call church, is a community called by God, to be on the move.

Our calling is not to become settled, but to be constantly on the move, seeking to serve the community outside these walls.

God promises, that in the journey, we will be set free.

And so, this morning, as we meet here in comfort, (if pews can ever be called comfortable) let’s be mindful of God’s call to be a people on the move.

As we share the life giving food in communion, may we know God nourishing us and sustaining us for the journey.

A journey into the unknown, fueled by the God of yesterday, today and forever.

Glory be to the God of the journey.

Amen

Our cross today

2011-08-27T22:10:00.001+01:00

Matthew 16:21-28

²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? ²⁷“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Get behind me Satan.

Could Jesus really be addressing these words to Peter?

Get behind me Satan.

Peter, the disciple we read about last week to whom Jesus offered the keys of the kingdom, the disciple on whom Jesus said he would build the church.

Peter, who walked on water.

Peter. who recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Peter, now being told by Jesus: Get behind me Satan.

What on earth is going on?

I’d like to challenge us all, today, with the thought, that what was going on with Peter is what assails all of us every day.

Peter was simply not taking the challenge of following Jesus seriously enough.

Peter had not counted the cost of following Jesus.

And so, once Jesus starts to reinforce the teaching, a teaching he has promoted from the beginning, but which his disciples have not taken seriously, once Jesus starts to elaborate on that teaching - that discipleship involves hardship, his disciples try to deflect him and brush off his abrasive call to sacrifice.

It’s a very human trait – to try to make light of challenging circumstances – a useful coping mechanism – one that we all employ from time to time.

But Jesus needed his disciples to wake up and appreciate just how much was being asked of them.

Jesus needed them to fully grasp the cost of discipleship.

As I studied this text this week, I was forced to smile.

Because it struck me that, really, here in this gospel reading, is everything we try hard to steer clear of in the church.

For instance, I’m always banging on about us being a welcoming community.

An accepting community.

A community that shares joy and sorrow and that is supportive through all that life brings.

A community founded on the love of God.

A community that celebrates the joy that God gives and the light that God brings into the darkest corners of our lives.

So – if I was to write an advert for Castlehill Church – it would be along the lines of:

Come and be part of a real, fun loving, friendly bunch of people, who, together, are learning to love and serve God.

Each week, as a benediction, I exhort all of you to go to love and to serve God by loving and serving each other.

This week’s gospel, however, had me wondering about that.

For in this gospel, Jesus is not telling his disciples about the fun they’ll have.

He is not telling them about the friends they will make.

He is asking them to take up a cross.

, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

What kind of invitation is that?

It’s certainly NOT the kind of discipleship that we advertise.

And THAT, says Jesus is the problem.

Faith is NOT a walk in the park.

Discipleship is NOT easy.

And perhaps the reason Jesus was so harsh with Peter was because even Jesus, himself was tempted to take an easier route.

Even Jesus might have preferred to continue on the adventure he was embarked on with his disciples.

Surely, together, they could have sustained that for a bit longer, had some fun, retained the adulation of the crowds and upped the ante with the authorities.

But Jesus knew that that was not God’s will.

Jesus knew that there could be no happy ending.

Jesus knew that the ONLY way was the way of the cross.

And, however tempting it might be to give all that a body swerve, Jesus knew there was only one way to achieve the salvation of the world – and that was – by his death on a cross.

But, for us, that IS THE GOOD NEWS.

Jesus obedience, his persistence, his refusing to be turned aside from God’s mission, his going all the way to the cross, means that we, as Jesus’ followers today, have no need to look for a cross to carry.

Discipleship, for us today, while not an easy task, is nothing compared to what was being demanded of Jesus.

Discipleship, for us, IS encapsulated in the benediction we share every week – loving and serving God by loving and serving each other.

Discipleship calls us to obediently give of ourselves in serving our neighbour.

But we must never underestimate the cost and the effectiveness of such service.

We are not being asked to die – Jesus has already done that for all of us.

But we are being asked to live lives dedicated to serving God and those around us in love.

And, you know only too well that that is a task that is much more difficult than it sounds.

That kind of discipleship involves truly loving even the most unlovable folk we encounter in every day life.

It involves us loving and serving the grouchy, the miserable, the ungrateful, the down right awkward folk we encounter every day (and that’s just our fellow Christians!)– all in order to be obedient to Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow him.

No, we don’t need to go looking for crosses to take up – we are presented with them every day – and Jesus calls for us to be obedient in responding with love to every challenge we encounter.

THAT is discipleship.

So, maybe the kind of advert we’d like to promote to encourage others to join us in God’s mission here in Castlehill Church doesn’t sound so bad.

Maybe it is Ok to advertise ourselves as a welcoming community.

An accepting community.

A community that shares joy and sorrow and that is supportive through all that life brings.

A community founded on the love of God.

A community that celebrates the joy that God gives and the light that God brings into the darkest corners of our lives.

But maybe you and I need to wake up to how much it takes to BE that kind of community.

It is EXTREMELY hard work.

It will not come easily.

It will take a lot of effort.

But, together, we can be obedient to Jesus’ call to be disciples.

So - Let’s write that advert for Castlehil church:

Come and be part of a real, fun loving, friendly bunch of people, who, together, are learning to love and serve God.

And let’s take that benediction seriously: to go to love and to serve God by loving and serving each other.

For the glory of God.

Amen.

Ready or not

2011-08-06T23:54:00.000+01:00

Readings: 1 Kings 19 v 9-18

Matthew 14 v 22-33

All of us need different things when it comes to taking time out.

Some of us enjoy activity to help us relax.

Others enjoy doing nothing.

Some folk relax just by being free of routine and deadlines.

Others like structured breaks.

For some, a change is as good as a rest.

For others, only getting completely away and doing something different – will provide rest.

But we all need, at some level, to escape and feel the difference.

When we encounter Elijah in our Old Testament reading this morning, he was in need of a break.

Elijah had just achieved a massive victory over the prophets of Baal.

He’d won a major battle.

But then he discovered that the queen, Queen Jezebel, was out to kill him.

There was no time for him to celebrate his victory or to take time out to celebrate success.

Instead, Elijah was fleeing for his life.

And the strength and the faith that had seen him through one major crisis deserted him as he faced the next.

So he fled.

Trying to put as much distance as he possibly could between himself and the queen who, literally, was after his blood.

And so he finds himself about 300 miles away from where he had destroyed the 400 prophets of Baal.

And finds himself on a Holy Mountain, a place revered as a place of God.

It is as he hides away on that mountain that Elijah encounters God.

Not dramatically.

Not, as you might expect, in a mighty wind, or in an earthquake or in a ball of fire.

But in a deathly silence.

That is how God chose to appear.

In silence.

Elijah, worn out after such a long journey, fearing for his life, had to be still to encounter God – in the silence.

My first question of this story is:

Did Elijah have to flee to this holy mountain to encounter God?

Or could that silence have stopped him in his tracks and soothed him at any point on his journey?

Perhaps an interesting question for us today:

What are the conditions under which we encounter God?

Do we need to be in a particular place?

Do we need to be in a particular frame of mind?

Do we need to be rested?

Do we need to be desperate?

To encounter God.

And my second question is:

What effect does meeting God have on us?

Before God is revealed to Elijah in this story, God asks him: what are you doing here?

And Elijah answers:

"I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

But once God is revealed to Elijah in the silence, God asks him the same question: What are you doing here?

And Elijah’s response is no different:

He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

Elijah, who is filled with God’s spirit.

Who has already achieved incredible feats in the name and power of God, is seemingly unchanged by this encounter.

He is still weary, still fearful, in spite of all that God enabled in him and through him.

Like so many of us.

Confronted by God in different times and places, in different ways.

Yet, often, unchanged by the encounter.

How often have we thought:

If only God would just give me a sign.

If only God would be a bit clearer.

If only God would give me a nudge – one way or the other.

But would it really make any difference?

Would we really be any the wiser?

How often have we chosen to ignore the prompting of God because we’re not convinced, or the timing’s not right, as we see it, or because we’re just not ready for that particular message?

We idealize how and when the Living God might show up in our lives – so much so – that we fail to recognize how often we are in fact in that Holy presence.

Our gospel reading continues the theme of rest, of escape.

Jesus sent the disciples off in a boat to escape the crowds and he spent some time by himself in prayer.

Of course we all know and have probably heard many a sermon on the rest of this story – when Jesus catches up with the disciples by walking on water to reach them.

Often, we focus on Peter, the disciple who left the boat and walked on water.

Whether Peter’s actions were acts of bravery or of foolishness is open for debate.

But there is even more going on in this gospel story.

At this point in their ministry together, Jesus is recognized, by the disciples, as the Son of God.

Why?

Because he walked on water to reach the disciples in the boat.

The disciples, terrified, not by the wind and the waves – they were fishermen, after all – the disciples, terrified by the sight of someone walking on the water, on discovering that the one who comes to them is Jesus, in that moment, recognize him as the Son of God and worship him.

The ARE changed by their encounter with God, with the Son of God.

Their fear leaves them and they begin to worship.

What a result!

And their journey continues…

The reason Jesus and the disciples were in the boat was to cross to the other side and carry on their ministry.

By the time the disciples got there, by the time they crossed the water, they were forever changed by their encounter with the living God.

They now knew who Jesus was – the Son of God.

And that encounter propelled them on

So which encounter resonates with us this morning?

Do we long to encounter God in quiet and reverence?

Or do we want to see God in the storm that is our life right now?

And would it make any difference either way?

Are we prepared to be challenged and changed by knowing God, however revealed?

Or have we lost the will to love and to serve because life is too hard?

We have been privileged this morning to hear just a brief update of our young folks’ trip to Romania – I’m sure there are lots more stories to come. (some not for telling here!)

A story that started out as a simple wish to help out by donating weekly tuck shop profits.

A story that grew.

Until that helping out at a distance was no longer enough.

We give thanks for all who have been inspired and enabled to go on this trip.

For leaders and for young people.

What is certain is that each of them will be changed forever by that experience.

By encountering new experiences, by encountering a very different culture and, whether they knew it or not, by encountering God in the people by whom they were welcomed and whom they served.

Because thank God, it’s not about when we are ready.

God appears anyway.

God appears and changes everything, using us to share the love of God and to live in the light of that love.

God changes you.

God changes me.

And, together, we go on to make God known throughout the world, starting right here.

May we be open and may we be surprised and empowered by encountering God this week, in the silence or in the storm.

Thanks be to God.

Weeds of encouragement

2011-07-17T00:48:00.000+01:00

Reading: Matthew 13 v 24-30; 36-43

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

As many of you know, the final Harry Potter film was released this week.

I haven’t had time to go and see it yet – that’s something I’m hoping to address on holiday.

But, earlier this week I was recording Pause for Thought for Westsound – a series that will go out next week.

(so, if you’re up and about early, tune in next week and listen in.)

In the daily reflections, I am musing on the things we can learn about faith from the Harry Potter stories.

It’s amazing how much times goes into producing a series of 90 second thoughts.

So I feel I’ve spent a lot of time with Harry Potter this week.

One of the reflections I didn’t record focussed on The Sorting Hat that features in the Harry Potter stories.

As each pupil joins Hogwarts School, they are sorted into Houses – the sorting Hat declares which house each pupil is assigned.

There are 4 houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

The Gryffindors tend to be folk who display courage, daring, nerve, and chivalry so its members may be regarded as brave and perhaps a bit reckless

The Hufflepuffs tend to be hard-working, friendly, loyal, non-judgmental, and modest about their accomplishments.

The Ravenclaws are intelligent, creative, resourceful and witty.

And Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning,, often disregarding the rules.

Of course there are always a few rogues in each house – folk who don’t live up to type.

And there were occasions when the Sorting Hat found it difficult to label students.

I don’t know about you, but I have always been one to take people as I find them.

Of course its so easy to judge folk on appearance and on first impressions – we all tend to do that.

But I hate to be given the lowdown on someone before I meet them.

I like to form my own opinion and, I suppose, as an optimist, I always like to give folk the benefit of the doubt.

Of course sometimes that leads to disappointment, and to hurt, but I’d much rather take the risk than rely on someone else’s judgment.

As you know, I recently handed over responsibility as interim moderator for Mauchline and Sorn to a new minister.

After his induction, we met so that I could talk through a few things about the parishes with him, and pass on information that might be useful to him.

But one of the things I was careful NOT to do – was describe folks’ characters.

Because I think we all encounter folk differently.

And, often, if we have expectations, positive OR negative, those expectations will be confirmed.

Whereas if we are open, then we can encounter all manner of surprises.

I was also sharing with him the mystery that is being “the new minister”

I’m not sure when one stops being “the new minister”

Someone told me recently that, apparently, “the jury is still out on the new minister at Castlehill”

Three years on I’m wondering when one moves on from being “the new minister”

And on what criteria does the so called jury base its verdict?

I like to think that the jury has been out so long because I have proved difficult to label.

And folk don’t like it when we can’t be pigeon holed.

We like folk to slot neatly into categories that we define.

But our gospel today points to confusion.

And encourages us to leave judgment to God.

I looked back to see what I preached on our gospel passage when it last came up 3 years ago – and discovered that that was just when we moved to Ayr.

And I was reflecting on first impressions.

And expressing the hope that I was being called to work with people who were willing to take risks for the Kingdom of God.

I hoped that I was being called to lead a community that encouraged diversity, that wasn’t afraid to try new things.

3 years on, I’m pleased to affirm that that hope continues to be fulfilled.

Jesus’ parable, I would argue, ENCOURAGES us to take risks.

To try things that we might not be too sure of.

To trust folk who might be that wee bit different.

To accord people the benefit of the doubt.

To give things space and time and encouragement.

And then wait and see what the harvest brings.

Because – WE NEVER CAN TELL.

And, unless we’re prepared to give things a chance – a real chance- we might miss out on an opportunity to be involved in growing the Kingdom of God.

It’s easy for us to be dismissive of new ideas.

And dismissive of people who are different from us – especially in church.

It always amazes me how many people spend their working day involved in all sorts of risky business but who, when it comes to church, want things to stay exactly as they are.

Who want to spend their time in fellowship with folk who aren’t going to demand anything of them and who won’t challenge them in any way.

Jesus parable challenges all of us to be daring when we work for the Kingdom.

And to have patience.

To take a long view rather than jump to conclusions.

The parable of the weeds growing among the wheat encourages us to withhold our judgment and to allow God to reveal, in time, the things that are of benefit to the Kingdom of God and the people who belong.

Yesterday I learned of, what seems to me, an amazing modern day parable about allowing the weeds and the wheat to grow together and see what happens at harvest.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of the News Corporation, involved in scandals that are unfolding and unraveling daily, involving huge intrusions of privacy, also owns a publishing company called Zondervan.

Zondervan is the largest publisher in the world of BIBLES.

I recently reviewed a book for Zondervan – it was a book about women in the church, and I was asked to host a review for it on my blog.

I wondered this weekend, if I would have taken on that review had I known who owned the publishing company and if I’d been aware of the subsequent phone hacking and bribery allegations.

And yes I would have.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m an optimist.

And that means, that in every situation and that in every person, I believe there is the possibility for redeeming factors to be evident.

Even if we have to dig quite deep to find them.

I believe they are there.

I cherish the hope that, even in the most dire situation, there is hope.

And, even in the most misguided person, there is the possibility of redemption.

Aren’t our own lives testimony to that?

Each of us, with all our messiness.

With our public face and our private face.

Things we are proud to display.

And things we keep under wraps.

We see weeds growing along with wheat in our own lives.

And often we can’t even tell the difference.

We can’t tell whether something we’re involved in is going to turn out to be good or not.

For us or for others.

Or for the Kingdom of God.

That’s why God encourages us to allow the weeds to grow along with the wheat,

Because we never can tell.

And, far from assuming that the weeds will always destroy the wheat, what about believing that the wheat might redeem the weeds.

Allowing both to grow together is bound to allow the possibility for change – for the better.

I’m not for a second advocating that we don’t speak up against injustice.

I’m not suggesting that we tolerate people behaving badly and exploiting others.

But I am suggesting that the way to change is not for us to judge and condemn.

The way to make change for the better a real possibility is for us to live out the gospel in our every day life.

That will bring about revolution.

That will confound people.

And, in the end, God will bring about the harvest.

And, I’m sure that in that harvest there will be many surprises as God reveals people and things we have written off as weeds being declared wheat – flourishing in the Kingdom of God.

And perhaps even the things that we hold up now will prove not to be useful in the Kingdom of God.

God will judge.

We are called to be faithful, to be loving, to be willing to take risks and to STOP judging and to trust in the God of the harvest.

To God be the glory.

Amen.

Mirroring the Spirit

2011-06-25T22:53:00.001+01:00

Genesis 22 v 1-14

Matthew 10 v 40-42

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our Old Testament reading – the almost sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, is always a very difficult passage to preach on, so, although I left it in the readings this morning, I’m going to just let it sit there – as an ancient story.

And give thanks for the gospel.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s OK to wriggle out of hard tasks and give ourselves a break.

Today, I’m going to take the easier road – and go with the gospel.

The gospel that, for me at least, speaks more clearly into our lives today and to which we can relate more easily right now.

Especially in these weeks after Pentecost.

When we still have our Pentecost rainbow gracing the sanctuary, naming our hopes and dreams and something of our vision for this parish and for this community.

Let me read to you this morning’s gospel from The Message version of the Bible:

We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God's messenger. Accepting someone's help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing."

The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.

What an affirmation – the smallest act of giving or receiving makes us true apprentices.

A gospel of hospitality and service.

A gospel that affirms that each of us has it in us to be God’s messenger.

We are equipped.

And sent.

This reading comes hot on the heels of Jesus sending out his disciples.

Jesus is still outlining what’s what – the important things in the service of the kingdom.

But, just for a moment, I want to take you back to the way the gospel writer tells us of Jesus commissioning the disciples – the passage leading up to today’s teaching.

A passage that has become my favourite passage in the gospels and that I use often to encourage others in mission.

It starts at the end of Matthew 9, and continues on into Matthew 10, from which today’s reading comes.

This is the story of Jesus sending out his disciples:

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives…

Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:

"Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

"Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

It is with that same charge that Jesus commissions us, his disciples of today.

With the charge to travel light, remembering that WE are the equipment.

That, in God, we have all that is needed to go and care.

In God, we have the power to kick out the evil spirits and tenderly care for hurt and bruised lives.

Dare we believe that today?

Dare we believe that, right now, right here in this neighbourhood, we can make a difference to folk who are lost and confused, we can bring health to the sick, convince people that the kingdom is here.

That it’s not just some high flying notion.

And it’s not about being overly dramatic.

Rather, it’s about living generously with all that we have been given, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to make a difference right here where we are.

Dare we believe that?

And, supposing we dare, do we welcome that kind of power – power that will change lives, power that will love our community into health and wholeness, into a different, just way of being?

Is that the kind of power we would welcome.

Are those the kind of changes that we look forward to in our community?

I’ve spent some time this week, praying through our Pentecost hopes and dreams that we posted on our rainbow of hope.

Hopes and dreams that we can be a community of love in action, a community that wants to be welcoming, affirming and accepting.

A community that longs for peace.

A community that radiates warmth and extends hospitality.

In the words of this morning’s gospel, a community that offers a cup of cold water – and receives the gifts of God as gifts of grace – undeserved but freely given.

Those are our hopes and dreams.

But isn’t it more than a little bit scary to have those hopes and dreams fulfilled?

How would we cope with seeing our prayers – for that’s what hopes and dreams are – how would we cope with seeing our prayers answered?

How would we cope with witnessing the power of God being revealed?

And how would we cope with being the instruments of God right were we are?

While it is natural to long for all the things we have written on our rainbow – seeing those hopes and dreams brought to fruition – the changes that would mean in our lives still brings an element of fear.

Being successful in the mission of God, however longed for, is scary.

Harnessing the power of the Holy Spirit is a risky and a scary business.

As soon as we take seriously all that is promised to us through the spirit, we have to surrender control.

and, like all things in which we feel ourselves losing control, there is more than an element of fear for us.

Some time ago, I learned an interesting thing about rainbows.

Often, in this part of the world, we see double rainbows – always a beautiful sight.

The thing is, when we see a double rainbow, it is, in fact, only one rainbow – the second rainbow is a reflection of the first.

If you look at the picture, you’ll see that, in the second rainbow, the colours are reversed – a mirror image of the original rainbow.

What an image for us here in Castlehill, buoyed up by all the gifts of the Holy spirit.

As we surrender control to the power of the Holy Spirit, surrendering our fear as we do so.

As we embrace the gifts that the Spirit brings.

As we allow the colour and vibrancy of the Holy spirit to infect us, here and in our weekday lives, we become double rainbow blessings.

We reflect the image of God.

We, too, radiate vibrancy and hope, excitement and passion.

How cool is that?

What if we could radiate a mirror image of the colourful gifts of the Spirit of God?

Just imagine what a transformation we would see in this place and in the community we are called, together, to serve.

And our gospel assures us that by giving, we will not lose out. Jesus said:

. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing."

So what makes us afraid?

What holds us back?

What keeps us from seeing that community transformation that God promises to us if we join God in the work of the harvest?

What prevents us – you and I – from giving that cool cup of water?

What prevents us performing the smallest acts of hospitality, small acts that make a massive difference in the Kingdom of God.

Small acts that heap rainbows of blessing on us and on the community we serve.

That is the question that we take with us to ponder in the days ahead.

What prevents us being used by the Spirit of God?

Once we are able to answer that question, we may be able to remove the barriers we put up.

We may be able to relinquish our fear.

We may even be daring enough to take those small steps – to offer a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty.

May God be glorified in all our small steps and may God’s spirit be unleashed as we participate in the mission to which God calls us rejoicing that the smallest act of giving or receiving makes us true apprentices.

Thanks be to God

The Mystery

2011-06-19T08:22:00.001+01:00

Psalm 8

2 Corinthians 13 v 11-13

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Today is Trinity Sunday. The first Sunday in what we call Ordinary time – that’s why I’m wearing my green stole.

We’ve moved through the season of Easter, celebrated Pentecost last week ,and, today, Trinity Sunday sees us move, once again, into Ordinary Time.

About half of the year, in the church, is Ordinary Time.

Ordinary just refers to the Ordinal by which Sundays were numbered.

It doesn’t mean that Sundays in this season are humdrum or straightforward or that worship gets boring– God forbid.

Always there is something new and exciting and mysterious to discover.

The idea of the Trinity – God as Three in One is one of those mysteries of the faith that Theologians have wrestled with for centuries.

I’m not going to add to that today but wanted to reflect just for a moment on the threefold nature of this space in which we gather in fellowship with each other week by week in the presence of God.

With the symbols of our worship surrounding us.

The font – reminding us of our baptism, baptism that calls us into God’s service.

We move from the font to the table.

We ask parents to promise when their child is baptised that they will tell them of their baptism so that, in time, they will make their own response in faith and love and share in Christ’s communion,

In communion we are nourished by the spiritual food that God offers us – the body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ shed for us.

And, sustained by that spiritual food, we move through this worship space in which we have shared and been fed and we go into all the world.

The font, the table, the world.

A threefold calling for us to serve and follow the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And, in the words of the apostle Paul:

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all.

Amen

The comforter?

2011-06-12T20:31:00.001+01:00

Last night as I drove confidently to a friend's house, I was reminded of the number of times just after we moved to this part of the world that I got lost and used the church steeple to guide me home. It was a strange and very disconcerting feeling to live and work in an area I didn't know. Everything was new and unfamiliar. A different landscape. With my head filled with thoughts of Pentecost in preparation for Sunday worship, it struck me that a move out of our comfort zones is often called for in the journey of faith.
We pray: "Come, Holy Spirit" when really, the unpredictability that the Spirit brings is the last thing we want.
For Jesus' disciples that first Pentecost, the landscape changed and they were thrust into new and unfamiliar territory accompanied by God's Spirit. They followed that Spirit and were led in ways they could never have imagined. Life was extremely uncomfortable at times but they were never alone.
Dare we continue to pray: "Come, Holy Spirit"?

Something to stand on

Follow me

Resolution

Sunday 8th January 2012

Keeping the promises

Hope on the margins

Sunday 4th December 2011

Seeing God

Children of light

Remember, remember...

Community is... Passing on the vision

Community is... Trusting together

Community is... Living rightly

Community is... hard work!

Community is... being in God.

Community is...On the move

Our cross today

Ready or not

Weeds of encouragement

Mirroring the Spirit

The Mystery

The comforter?

Sunday 8^th January 2012

Sunday 4^th December 2011