Ubiquitous poor

Mary Anoints Jesus
St John Chapter 12
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

This is one of my favourite Gospel stories. I love the image created and can even smell the nard used! But, apart from the wonderful, sensuous act of love, there is also the question of the ever present poor. Surely, Jesus was not suggesting that it was acceptable, when faced with a choice, that the needs of the poor can be abandoned when there are other, more pressing, issues?
There has been much comment around the church, recently that, while we get all het up about interpretation of Scripture and same sex issues, still there are wars, still folk go hungry or are without clean water or shelter.... And all our tying ourselves in knots does not change a thing in the world we are called to serve or make any difference to the suffering of God's children. We invest our energies in the wrong battles.
Jesus is not condoning or encouraging our divorce from reality in which we often indulge. Rather, by reminding us of how the poor are always with us Jesus draws our attention back to the fact that we do not have a choice - it is not an either/or, but a both/and. Have the discussions, dispute the priorities but just make sure that the poor are fed. They will always be with us, presenting us with the challenge to constantly be mindful of their needs and, in that mindfulness, change how we act. And in it all, discover the capacity to be not only generous but extravagant in serving Christ.


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From a different perspective

Luke 13:1-9
Repent or Perish
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
Then he told this parable:“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil? ’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down. ’”

A cheerful gospel reading today - about disasters and judgement and sin and repentance. But also about second chances.
I don't know about you but, when I get the opportunity to catch the evening news, I usually wish I hadn't. It is so depressing and upsetting.
So full of disaster and suffering, of cruelty and injustice.
Well it seems that those people who were talking to Jesus in today's gospel were giving him the latest news bulletin, the latest current affairs.
And their news wasn't any brighter than is our news today.
There had been a massacre:
Roman troops had killed a group of pilgrims - desecrating the temple, mingling the victims blood with the blood of the temple sacrifices.
And then, a terrible accident when a tower fell and killed all those who were bystanders.
News that, just like in our time, was shocking and depressing and about which folk speculated.
So, whose fault was it?
Could it have been avoided?
And, even, did the folk involved deserve to come to such a terrible end?
Questions that we ask when confronted with today's news bulletins.
Questions that spring naturally to our minds.
Whose fault?
What did they do wrong?
However much we'd prefer to deny that we approach disaster with any notion of judgement, often we do - we wonder what folk did or didn't do to be victims of such terrible circumstance.
Jesus knows well the speculation in which folk were indulging.
And he names it:
He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?
Not only does Jesus name their speculation about the victims' morality, Jesus, clearly not in the mood to bring comfort on this occasion, points out to his questioners: it could have been you!
While we might have expected Jesus to get started on explaining the meaning of life and the workings of the universe when confronted with such disturbing news that has clearly disturbed and shaken his followers.
While we might have expected him to try to defend an omnipotent God, who allows such things to happen to innocent people, Jesus refuses to be caught up in ontological or philosophical discussion.
Instead, he confronts his listeners with the stark reality that it could just as easily have been them caught up in disaster.
And then where would they be?
Apart from dead, that is!
Jesus uses the people's questions about the awful news of the day to confront them with their own mortality (not morality) but their own mortality.
In effect, Jesus is saying - sort your own lives.
He uses the disasters to encourage people to repent.
A seemingly harsh reaction to a crowd looking, perhaps, for sympathy or for some kind of explanation.
Jesus confronts the people instead with their need for repentance.
Now I don't know about you - but I have never been very comfortable with talk of repentance in the church - at least not the way repentance is usually touted.
Often, talk of repentance comes across as some guilt inducing attack on personal morality.
A prompt to change behaviour because of the possible consequences rather than because of a conviction that we might live differently.
A prompt to make a one off decision.
Repentance is often rolled out as the last great tool for social control.
But THAT is not the kind of repentance to which Jesus is directing his hearers here.
Jesus, throughout his ministry, invites people to repentance, he doesn't drive them to it or scare them into it.
Because Jesus knows that repentance is not the once in a lifetime event that it is so often portrayed in the church today.
It's not that moment of conversion that lasts a lifetime.
In fact it is not momentary at all.
Repentance, once embarked on, may take the rest of our lives - and more to achieve.
Because the repentance of which Jesus speaks is a repentance that gets to the heart of the matter.
A repentance that involves a wholesale change in thinking and in perception, in how we see things.
And while, this kind of change might well result in a change in behaviour, that is not its primary purpose.
The primary purpose of the kind of repentance to which Jesus points is a re-aligning ourselves with God and with the purposes of God.
And that does take a lifetime.
That kind of re-alignment, gaining a new perspective on God, might sound a relatively easy and painless shift.
But it is far from it!
If we were to truly repent!
To truly realign how we think about God, about Gods world, about the children of God, is not painless and is not easy but involves a drastic re-orientation of ourselves in relation to God.
And affects the way we approach all of life - and death.
It brings the ability, in the face of disaster, to know confidence in God as the source and the sustainer of all life.
To accept the randomness and cruelty that life sometimes brings.
In repentance we gain a new awareness of the presence of God - in ALL of life.
Even in the face of disaster we are upheld by the calm assurance that God is present - not averting disaster, not protecting Gods own, but bringing hope into the most desperate situations.
Bringing hope that, though we live in such turmoil, though disaster might strike at any moment, our hope is in God - the God who ensures that there is more - the God who calls us to be instruments of that hope that persists even in the bleakness of today's world and today's news.
Repentance involves not just a change of heart and of mind, a changed awareness and perspective but also a change in how we live, how we act with that changed perspective.
Repentance brings not fatalism, not calmness, but the call to join in Gods mission to bring justice and peace to all the world.
To change the bad news by living the good news.
So, as we reflect on all the bad news that we have heard this week, on all the images we have seen on TV, on all that we have read in newspapers, our question is not: Why, God, Why? But, How, God, How?
How can we bring change?
How can we relieve suffering?
How can we work for justice in our time?
So our repentance arises, not out of fear or guilt but out of the awareness of God at work, even in the midst of suffering.
And the difference that repentance brings is the ability to see how God might use us to change the story - from bad news to good news.

That story that Jesus tells, after speaking of repentance, the story of the fig tree that won't bear fruit, that the owner wants to cut down.
The fig tree that is saved because the gardener pleads for it, promising to pay it special attention.
That story speaks to me of second chances.
Second chances that come, not by simply letting fate takes its course, but by intervention.
If the fig tree is to survive the next visit of the owner, it is going to take a lot of hard work on the part of the gardener to ensure that it does bear fruit.
God calls us to hard work.
To the hard work of second chances.
To the hard work of intervention, changing what we can- to make a difference for others.
To give others their second chance.
It is to a ministry of second chances that God calls us.
To a ministry that bears fruit.
Being so convinced of God' s presence in our world that we will work to reveal that presence to others so that they too might repent,so that they too will have that joy of a whole new perspective, of the Good News getting the better of all the bad news.

May we all discover true repentance and in that discovery be called to be bringers of justice for all God's world.
Amen

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Carrying Epiphany into Lent

Luke 9:28-43
The Transfiguration
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.


Today is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany.
Next Sunday we find ourselves in the season of Lent which begins on Wednesday.
As you'll know by now, I love to mark the progression of the Seasons of the Christian year, to change the colour of stole I wear, to reflect, in our worship, and in our daily living together in community, the differing aspects of Scripture and of the Good News we hear and try to live into.

But, before we embark on the long season of penance that is Lent, I thought it might be useful to look back at Epiphany and retrace some of the steps we have taken on our journey through the year so far.
Our gospel reading, from the mountain top, affords us a good view and a good place from which to do that.

So lets go back to the beginning of Epiphany.
That was the first Sunday of the New Year.
When we welcomed the Wise Men to the stable.
We pondered the journey they had taken - a long and circuitous route.

Remember this, our call to worship on Epiphany?
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with the flocks,
then the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal those broken in spirit,
to feed the hungry,
to release the oppressed,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among all peoples,
to make a little music with the heart…

And to radiate the Light of Christ,
every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say.
Then the work of Christmas begins.
(Howard Thurman)

The work of Christmas, the work of Epiphany, opening our eyes and the eyes of the world to the love of God born among us is a work for every day.
For some people, it happens all at once.
For others, it is quite a journey.
But the joy we experience on discovering God born beside us gives us the enthusiasm and the energy we need for the onward journey.
Of course once those important seekers, the Magi, found the stable, the Holy Family had to flee for their lives and we lost them, for a time, on the road to Egypt.

The following Sunday, in our gospel reading we were confronted by Jesus, all grown up, being baptised and affirmed by the voice from heaven " This is my beloved child with whom I am pleased."
The Epiphany for us - recognising in our baptism, that call and affirmation of a God who calls us beloved children.
Incidentally, this encounter is echoed in our gospel reading today when, once again, a voice from heaven declares: "This is my son, my chosen. Listen to him!"
Beloved children of God today, we see God calling and equipping us in so many ways.
We see the baby God all grown up and walking beside us along the way as we engage in Gods mission in the world today.

Then, in Luke's gospel, we moved on to explore the wedding in Cana and the gift of abundance.
Remember - Jesus seemed reluctant to reveal Gods power - but his mum, as mums do, knew better.
She told the stewards at the wedding feast to listen to Jesus and to do whatever he told them.
Their compliance with Jesus odd request assisted the Son of God to displays his credentials in a typically extravagant and exuberant way.
Water into wine - but not just any wine - Son of God wine!
An Epiphany for those at a wedding feast.
But also for us as our eyes are opened to the gracious abundance of the gifts of God.

From the wedding feast, we moved on to the synagogue.
And saw Jesus getting down to business.
Setting out his manifesto by reading the words of Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
And proclaiming: this Scripture has come true today.
We spent some time considering these words - we even took some of the words home with us to remind us that, today, we are called to fulfil this prophecy - to live out Jesus manifesto in our lives, bringing the reign of God to those we encounter day by day.

I wonder how that is going for you?
Fulfilling Scripture.
Living prophetically.
Last week, , the fourth week of Epiphany, we saw Jesus almost being lynched by his fellow worshipers - because he spoke the truth and called them to action.
Living prophetically is not an easy or a popular choice.
But we are called to risk it.
To open our eyes and see that Gods reign won't come simply by divine intervention - but by a lot of hard work and graft by us who claim to follow Jesus.
Us whom God calls to live in love, here in our fellowship together and in our daily living with those who have not yet had an Epiphany of faith

And so to today's gospel - when Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured on the mountain and see him joined by heroes of faith - Moses and Elijah.
A transformative moment for them, one that must have caused them much puzzlement and wonder, both then and throughout the rest of their lives when they got the opportunity to go back and ponder it.
Such moments are rare but sustaining.
Moments of affirmation and encouragement.
Moments that we can rarely plan but which, when they happen, we must grasp with both hands.
But moments often in which we cannot linger.
For the realities of life beckon.
And so we must leave the wonder, come down from the mountain top and go on.
Often such times of being on a high are followed by a crashing descent.
Such is life.
Sometimes there aren't enough of the mountain top experiences and a great too many of the crashing down to earth times.
But in it all, as we have learned this Epiphany, God calls, equips and accompanies.
And so, as far as the Liturgical season is concerned, we leave Epiphany.
But I like to think of every day being filled with little epiphanies in life.
Those aha moments, when we see God at work, in odd encounters, in glimpses of majesty in moments of awareness of something other - and grander than ourselves.
A couple of years back, we accepted an invitation from the folks up at St Paul's to go to Bellahouston and see Pope Benedict.
We had to be in the park really early although the Pope wasn't going to be there until much later in the afternoon.
So we took a picnic lunch and joined the tens of thousands of people in a very carnival atmosphere to enjoy the entertainment or just sit in the sunshine and read - and wait.
But long before the Pope actually appeared on the platform set up in the park, a whisper went around the crowd - "he's here"
There was a buzz of tension and then an incredible hush - everyone was electrified by the sense of sharing a special moment.
Whatever age, however devout (or not) folk became caught up in a moment of encounter with the holy.
That encounter wasn't simply about catching a glimpse of the man elected head of the Roman Catholic Church.
That encounter was, for me at least - and I'm sure I wasn't alone - that encounter was about an awareness, in that moment of the presence of God in our midst.
An aha moment in which God revealed our shared humanity and our shared access to holiness.
As we descend from the mountain top into the wilderness that is Lent, we are sustained by all the aha moments.
And the austerity of Lent does not preclude even more startling discoveries of God in our midst and in our every day.
Indeed, perhaps because we are more focused on God as we journey through Lent, we will discover so many more mountain top moments.
So let us journey on, knowing the presence of God dogging our steps as we make our way from the mountain top into the wilderness with the Son of God and as we explore afresh how God intends to use all the gifts that we have for God's kingdom.
To God be the glory.

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Compelled to serve

Luke 4:21-30
Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself! ’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum. ’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

1Corinthians 13
The Gift of Love
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

One of the most refreshing things I discovered about being called to minister in Ayr, was the move to a different Presbytery. After 21 years service in the area in which I'd grown up, done my training and taken my first two charges, it was refreshing to serve where folk didn't know my family, hadn't seen me grow up, hadnt "kent my faither" as they say.
It was good to no longer be constantly compared with my brothers or sister, to be told - You're so like your dad, or - your gran would be so proud of you.

Today, our gospel reading follows on from last weeks, where Jesus set out his manifesto - using the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus made it clear that he had come to preach good news, to bring healing and release and proclaimed: today you see this scripture coming true in your midst.
Although his words were challenging, they were also exciting and reassuring. And, it seems, they were received perhaps with some nodding of heads, with some indulgent smiles - for here was a local boy made good.
So why did it all turn ugly. Why did Jesus then have to escape from a crowd wanting to lynch him?
What went wrong was that Jesus wasn't seeking their approval or their indulgence.
Jesus wanted to challenge them to understand the meaning of his words and the mission he was about.
That wasn't a mission that would affirm and encourage them in their ways as they imagined.
It was a mission that would make them question everything they did, their motives and their actions - and turn everything on its head.
Jesus wanted them to see that it wasn't enough to nod their approval or encouragement.
What was also important was that they listened to his words - words not of comfort but of challenge.
Words that were meant to be taken seriously.
Words that would change a way of life.
Jesus was like any preacher in any church after Sunday worship who is told, after preaching: nice sermon.
Sermons are not meant to be nice.
They are meant to confront and challenge, to get folk thinking, to encourage change.
Gods word does not simply encourage us in our walk but stirs us up to act differently.
The folk in the synagogue that day were there to hear Joseph's boy confirm that they were the chosen ones on whom Gods favour rested.
Jesus was there to challenge that perception and to blow it out of the water.
You think you are the chosen ones?
Well, let me tell you...
Jesus wasn't interested in their approval of him as a local boy "done good".
He was concerned that their indulgence of him as one of their own closed their ears to the real message that he was trying to preach.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
That was what was going on.
And Jesus wasn't slow to name it.
And that's why he made himself unpopular.
So,Jesus was one of them - that didn't mean that they were exempt from the demands of the gospel.
We in the church, week by week, often think of ourselves as "the good folk".
There is the notion that the minister is "preaching to the converted".
And we bemoan the fact that there are not more folk here who really need to hear the gospel, those who really need to change their ways.
It is from us that Jesus walks away in disgust today.
We who have become immune to the challenge and the demands of the gospel.
We who think we have made it.
That we are the chosen ones.
We are chosen, but perhaps not in the way we imagine.
We are chosen to upset those surrounding us today by proclaiming and living out the gospel that Jesus preached and lived.
God calls us to serve in a whole new way in our world today.
God calls us to be changed and to bring change.

So let's imagine for a moment this morning what might compel us to change?
What might convince us that Jesus challenge is for us?
That we haven't got it all right.
That there is room and the will for change.
How would we do that?
Where would we begin?
How can we follow that radical manifesto of Jesus?
How can we bring good news to the poor, proclaim release for captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed? How can we proclaim the year of the Lords favour?
Having heard that good news, how can we live out that good news?
Last week, each of us took away a part of that manifesto - as a reminder of our call to be involved in Gods mission.
How do we live out those gospel imperatives?
Jesus tells us as he told the people in his local synagogue - "today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing"
Not because we have it all together.
Not because we are the chosen ones.
But because we know the love of God for us.
And that love compels us to share with others.
Because we know ourselves loved, warts and all, we are motivated to spread that love around.
Here in this place are people known to God, inside out.
Here in this place are people loved by God, inside out.
Here in this place, the year of the Lords favour continues to be proclaimed.
Here in this place are people living out Jesus manifesto in their everyday lives.
Experiencing and sharing the amazing love of God.
Touched by Gods grace and love, we cannot help but ensure that others are touched too by that amazing grace and love.

The apostle Paul, who wrote that wonderful love poem that is 1 Corinthians 13, once persecuted Christians.
He travelled long distances to round up and bring to trial those who had been convicted by Jesus teaching.
Then, on those travels, he himself encountered the love of God - and found himself turned upside down.
When Gods love touched him, he could do no other than serve the living, loving God he had encountered.
We've become quite familiar with this reading, this love poem from 1 Corinthians.
It's used often at weddings and at funerals.
But, today, we want to place it back in its context.
It was written as part of Paul's teaching of what life could be like when we live together as a Christian community.
It comes hard on the heels of Paul's encouragement that we act as one body,using all the different gifts that we have been given, cemented together by love.
Back to that knowing ourselves loved, we cannot help but live in love.
That means that we take ourselves out of here to serve others.
It means that we risk the rejection of those around us.
Because we can do no other.
We are claimed by the love of God.
And compelled to respond in love.
Today this scripture is being fulfilled.
Thanks be to God.

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Gifts of abundance!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Spiritual Gifts
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

John 2:1-12
The Wedding at Cana
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days.


It's been a wee while since I've done a "puppy update".
Ruca is 10 months old now - and this picture was taken at Ayr Beach last weekend.
I love the exuberance that is captured in this picture.
The joy of life.
No holding back.
Shaking the water off as she goes.
It struck me as a wonderful visual illustration of our readings today.
Readings that are full to the brim with exuberance.

Exuberance isn't something that we experience so much in the church.
We're too busy following rules, creating order, sometimes ensuring that our faith makes us miserable - isn't that what being Presbyterian is about? :)
And, all the while giving the impression that our resources are in short supply,that we must conserve what we have, that times are hard in the church as they are everywhere else.
Both readings today, however speak to us of abundance.
Jesus changed the water into wine - good wine , much more than was needed.
And the gifts of the Spirit - of which we read in 1 Corinthians, are not rationed but are freely given to be freely used.
I'm not, for a moment attempting to deny that many folk in all walks of life, locally, nationally and globally are experiencing the bite of recession in all sorts of ways.
But I am advocating that, in the church, we are called to buck the trend.
To be counter intuitive.
To go against the grain.
Not by burying our heads in the sand.
But by taking hold of our faith and taking seriously the claims of Jesus who said:
" I have come to bring you life - in abundance. "
That abundant life is what we are called to model for the world around us.
A life lived with faith in the abundant grace of God.

And so to our gospel reading.
The author of Johns gospel has a thing about signs.
Not miracles. - but signs that point to truths much more profound than it appears of the surface.
Signs that are multi layered in meaning.
I'm intrigued that this first "sign" of which John tells us - water into wine, seems such a trivial thing when set against other things that Jesus might usefully have done.
Yes, it was probably a social nightmare for the wedding host to run out of wine, but, in the great scheme of things, was that the best he could come up with?
Water into wine?
So, the actual sign may not be as impressive as it might be.
But what about the message the writer of John's gospel is trying to get across?
The resources of the host have been exhausted - but the party is far from over.
God makes sure of that.
And so it is in our experience.
When we feel we have exhausted our resources, then discover that still more is being asked of us, God fills us with what we need.
And not just the bare necessities.
But an abundance.
Jesus took everyday things that were present in that place where the wedding was being held and put them to use.
Like the gifts of which we read in 1 Corinthians.
Gifts that God replenishes in us - just when we need it most.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.


We're taking some time here in Castlehill to think about Stewardship.
To think about the gifts we have and to determine how those gifts can be best used for Gods purposes.
Those gifts are not in short supply although, often, that is how we like to portray things - as though there is a scarcity.
In these times of recession, affecting so many areas of life, the good news is that God continues to say Yes.
Gods kingdom continues to expand.
Th generosity of God knows no bounds.
And we, the people of God, are called to follow suit.

A couple,of weeks ago, when we took a word to lead us into the new year, a word with which to live into the new year, my word was ENCOURAGE.
I want to encourage you today,whatever age or stage you are at in your journey of faith to know that your resources are not exhausted beyond Gods replenishment.
To know that God continues today to equip all of us to give and to serve.
And what's more - to enjoy that giving and serving.
I want to encourage you to follow Jesus example of celebrating as he journeyed through life.
Celebrating every act of compassion he witnessed.
Celebrating every act of faith he encountered.
Celebrating love wherever he found it.
Encouraging us, today, to celebrate as we use the gifts we have been given in abundance.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Baptised in water

Luke 3:15-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

 Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

When I was at my mums at Christmas time, she brought a box out of the wardrobe and asked: Do you know whats in here?

I didn't recognise the box but she got me to unwrap it and inside, nestled in loads of tissue paper, was the Baptism gown that both Ruaridh and Zara wore when they were baptised. it was made from my wedding dress. And, together with a beautiful fine shawl knitted by their other grandmother,it was all wrapped up and stored away - for who knows what.

Neither Ruaridh nor Zara remember their baptism, being only weeks old at the time but we have told them about their baptism and shown them photographs. That's one of the promises we ask parents to make when they bring their children for baptism - "Tell them of their baptism and unfold to them the treasure they have been given today".

I can remember a conversation with Ruaridh some years ago about his baptism. We met Neil McNaught, who baptised Ruaridh and when I asked Ruaridh if he could remember Neil, who had by then moved to Alloway,he said: " Oh yes thats the minister that put me under his arm and put water on me. " The stories we told him had clearly got through at some level.

This morning, we read again of the Baptism of our Lord. Though,since we are reading from Luke's gospel this year, details are pretty sparse. However the lack of detail allows what is important in baptism to stand out- The work of God. When Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit descended and Gods voice was heard, saying: You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

When we celebrate baptism here in church, we can often be distracted by the peripheries of baptism - by the families gathering to celebrate, by the outfits worn, by the cuteness of the babies, by wondering whether or not we shall ever see the babies and their parents again in worship. As humans, caring, curious, often judgmental, we can't help being distracted by such things. But what is important in baptism is the work of the Spirit of God.

That is why, in our tradition, we baptise infants. Infants who do not understand what is happening. Infants who cannot make their own commitment to faith. Infants who are dependant on others for everything - just as we are ALL dependant on God.

Thankfully baptism is NOT dependant on our goodness or merit or ability to judge the suitability of others. Baptism is dependant on the grace of God.

It is not something that we do.

It is not an honour that we confer on others.

Baptism is the work of God.

In baptism, the Spirit of God descends upon us.

In baptism God declares us beloved children.

Whatever happens to us through life, we remain beloved children of God.

And no matter what else life conspires to tell us, no matter how much we have lost sight of that identity, God continues to treat us as beloved children.

This week many of us were privileged to be present as our former assistant, Mandy was ordained to Holy ministry and then, the following night, as Margaret Shuttleworth was ordained too.

Both beloved children of God.

Both exercising the gifts that the Spirit has bestowed on them and living into the journey on which Gods Spirit continues to lead them and to which they have been called.

The Kirk Session here at Castlehill is encouraging everyone to consider over the next few weeks our calling as the people of God in this place.

People whom God calls beloved.

People to whom the Spirit of God has been given.

What difference does it make in our lives and the the lives of others that we are Gods beloved?

Gods beloved not just when we gather here but as we go about our daily work.

What are we doing with those gifts that God has given us, both here in this community and in the world that we are called to serve?

How do we exercise Gods gifts in our daily lives and with the people we encounter every day?

And what is the cost of living as beloved children of God?

Every time a child is baptised here, we promise to play our part in the nurture and care of that child.

How do we fulfil that promise?

Caring for children and young people is exhausting, time consuming work.

It takes commitment and energy.

We are blessed here in Castlehill with gifted and committed youth leaders, engaged in all manner of activities.

But, always, there is room for more.

Maybe that is not your calling but still there are ways that you can welcome and affirm the young folk who find their way here.

Or offer encouragement to those who are called to serve those young people.

And, if youth work is not your gifting or calling, what is it that you are called to?

Where will you offer your service to God

Last week, we celebrated Epiphany - the visitors from the East catching up with Jesus.

We celebrated the importance of their discovery of the advent of a king and also lamented the mistakes they made in their journey, mistakes that resulted in the slaughter of the innocents.

Not everyone welcomes the good news.

There will always be those who feel threatened.

Herod reacted to the baby Jesus by ordering the slaying of all baby boys.

When Jesus preached in his home town, folk wanted to throw him off a cliff.

And when John the Baptist spoke the truth, the new Herod had him imprisoned.

Sharing good news can be a risky business.

As beloved children of God, we are called to take that risk.

Last week, in celebrating the Epiphany, we celebrated that, though some of their actions were misguided, though they at first misunderstood the nature of God entering the world in Jesus, the visitors from the East were nonetheless welcomed and their gifts were honoured and valued.

And we reflected on how God welcomes each of us and the gifts that we offer because that is the nature of God and the love that God has for us.

Today, as we reflect on baptism, we remind ourselves of all that God has given us and we remind ourselves that nothing can remove our status as beloved children of God.

But we reflect too on how we will respond to those gifts that God has given us.

And the lengths to which we will go to share the good news.

Good news that doesn't always go down well.

We may not remember our baptism - the work of God.

But we are challenged to live into our baptism.

To live into our identity as beloved children of God.

Gifted to serve God in this community, whatever challenges that brings.

What difference does baptism make today?

Baptism ensures that we are called beloved and equipped to serve.

May we respond to those God given gifts by sharing the Good News for the glory of God.

Epiphany

These are the readings we will reflect on tomorrow for Epiphany

Seeing the light
We can’t be sure there were three of them.
We can’t be sure they were men.
And they don’t seem to have been particularly wise,
stirring up a political storm, causing havoc in their wake and untold grief
at the slaughter of innocents.
Condemning the holy family
to life as refugees
is their gift about which we rarely speak
choosing to focus instead
on the gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And yet perhaps that gift of flight was as significant as any other
in determining the affinity
that God laid down
with suffering, oppressed humanity, unlocking the way
that all might see
that God was, and is,
one of us.

Flight to Egypt
As the Holy Family fled
from the backlash
of a power hungry ruler,
did they have time to reflect
on how the Son of God
was worshipped by lowly shepherds
who journeyed to the stable
just as they were
responding to good news
as only they could.
Abandoning for a moment
their mundane hillside task
to pay homage with all that they had
recognising instinctively
something wondrous
unfolding in their midst.
And yet the star gazers
with all their power and privilege
brought a whole caravan of trouble
stopping off en route
to alert an insecure king
to the possibility of threat,
lured by their heritage
to a royal courtyard
rather than a stable floor.
And if they did
were their reflections harsh
and resentful
blaming their predicament
on the crassness of those
unfamiliar with poverty
and with life at the margins?
Or did they recognise
that to worship the Messiah
was a gift extended to all?
Were their hearts open enough
to welcome the homage
that each brought
from all that they knew best?
To know that each and all
are invited and welcomed
and valued.
To know that each and all
are offered the opportunity
to worship
the Son of God.
In such knowledge is Epiphany.

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