Palm Sunday

Please note special arrangements for Palm Sunday.

No10.30am Eucharist at St. John’s or 9.00am Mass at St. George’s.

Instead we shall gather at St. John’s at 9.45am for Blessing of Palms and Procession with donkey to St. George’s for Mass at 10.30am.

Children are invited to dress in appropriate costume for the procession with donkey!

Lent Bible Study Notes from the Society of St. Wilfred & St. Hilda in the South West

Wednesday Judas Iscariot.

One of the 12 and judiciously chosen, Judas has been a close confident of Jesus. He is a zealot one who is passionate about things, in his case about the need to overthrow the invading army, to set people free and to establish a society based upon principles and values. He’s very keen. He has all the zeal of a convert; he wants to be up and at it!

On this Wednesday of holy week see if you can find some space to renew your keenness, zeal and passion. But before you do so consider prayerfully what it is that you are keen and passionate about. Judas has been with Jesus constantly for three years, he is a close friend and is addressed as such in the Matthew Passion narrative. He has been entrusted with the funds of the group he is the long awaited and desired treasurer of the organisation! In whom much hope is placed and of whom much is expected.

One imagines that Judas has gradually become disillusioned. His desire for action in a particular direction has not been satisfied and he is disappointed, disaffected, feels distant and he has perhaps come to see himself as a bit of an outsider. He leaves the meal early and John records that as Judas departs it is dark. And then later in John’s Passion account it is ironic that he arrives in the garden with lights and lanterns.

Earlier he has left the source of all light in the person of Jesus, gone out into the dark and now he returns to the source of light, but carrying his own light – his own way of looking at things which metaphorically reflect his own expectation which have now been disappointed and are about to be declared in a decisive way.

We are used to thinking of Judas as a betrayer. This is a powerful word which carries immediate judgement and has the effect of building barriers between the one who has done it and the one who has been betrayed. To be betrayed particularly by someone with whom you have had a loving relationship is painful indeed. However, the text of the Bible could equally well or probably more accurately be translated to the effect that Judas “handed him over.” This is a rather less pejorative way of looking at this decisive event but for our self examination during holy week it is rather more challenging. Perhaps you have never been in a position where you have betrayed Jesus say by denying him, but being guilty of handing him over … this is less clear.

Like Judas you are a friend of Jesus have you ever handed him over, turned your back on him, left him exposed to ridicule for fear of your own future or status or standing?

Maundy Thursday - The Last Supper.

The oldest account the Last Supper is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, where he recounts what he had received; that on the night Jesus was handed over he took bread, gave thanks to God and gave it to the disciples with the mysterious words “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And similarly at the end of supper that he took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.”

These are, as it were, the last words of Jesus. The last anything is always poignant; save the last dance; the last time I saw him; the last supper… And here we look at the last words. I always remember when my mother sent me shopping the most important item was always repeated as I left the house, don’t forget the… were the last words spoken as I departed on the errand. The last words emphasising the important item.

The last words of Jesus, accompanied by particular action was an enacted parable of what was to happen to him the following day. These words and actions were all about giving and not just any giving but self donation. Jesus took and gave and, as he gave, his actions proclaimed that the gift he was giving to us is given for us. In this enacted parable of Calvary Jesus gave himself “vertically” to the Father and “horizontally” to his disciples. His body broken and his blood poured out in death, makes the meaning of these words perfectly clear … that, in this mysterious way, by sharing of his body and blood the gift of his own life is made available to his disciples throughout the ages. In the Eucharist Jesus does something which is remarkable: not only does he give his life for us but he gives it to us. This is all about self gift and that is why in the Orthodox liturgy attributed to St John Chrysostom the events of this night are described: “on the night he was handed over, or rather handed himself over for the life of the world.” Jesus the incarnate Word of God on cross of Calvary gives his very life for the world and in the Eucharist as we make memorial of this mind blowing reality making present its once for all effect, He gives this very life to us.

Good Friday – The Cross of Christ

The enacted parable of Maundy Thursday gives way to the reality of the cross on the Friday that we call either Good or Great. If the last supper speaks of self donation then the cross speaks of self abandonment. Throughout his life Jesus had given himself for others and his growing self-consciousness concerning the depth of his relationship with the Father only gradually would have resulted in suspicion about his eventual destiny. As the suspicion transformed into insight He had come to an understanding and acceptance of his life’s mission.

Everything he had said and done concerned this mission: to bring his Father’s children home. This is the good news that Jesus comes to reveal and it speaks of the fullness of life. For the fullness of that life to be available for all God’s children, Jesus embraces the cross out of faithfulness to his Father and the love he has been sent to reveal.

On the first Good Friday Jesus cries from the cross that he is alone, abandoned even he supposes by his Father… by the one to whom he has remained faithful. Today you will be alone as you kneel at the foot of his cross. St Augustine in his commentary on John’s Gospel speaks of how at the end of Jesus’ encounter with the woman found in adultery only two are left, misery and mercy. Today at the foot of the cross the same two are present. This is a position that many of us will do all we can to avoid. In so doing we deny the essential reality of our human life… the very life that Jesus came to take to the Father.

The liturgy of Good Friday is poignant indeed. You will go forward to reverence this mystery, to touch the cross and in so doing seek its benefit. Could I encourage you to one further action? It could be a gesture of remembrance; place your hand over your heart. Whilst you wait in your seat, feel the life beat of the heart. As you walk to the cross feel there in that heartbeat the times that your heart has been broken or indeed, pierced, in ways that you did not ever understand. As the cross comes close feel too in your own heart the beat of the hearts of those, throughout the world who sense similar loss or pain. And finally, as you kneel at the foot of the cross feel in that same heartbeat the broken heart of God in Christ who comes to share in all of our brokenness. And as you kneel there… misery and mercy… hear the assurance this is why we come to carry each other to Christ, to place each other here in the heart of God.

Holy Saturday – Burial

In the holy monastery of Iveron on Mount Athos there is a 16th century icon,

entitled the King of Glory. If the images depicted on the icon were given a title by the Western church it would most likely be called the harrowing of hell. It is an icon which shows Our Lady lowering the body of Christ, with wounds clearly visible, into the tomb. Alternatively, it might be entitled the Entombment of Christ. However, its Eastern description is the King of Glory.

The story is told of an RE lesson in school when the teacher asked the class “where was Jesus between his death on the cross and his resurrection from the tomb?” To which a child answered with simplicity but exceptional profundity, “in the deepest part of hell looking for his friend Judas!”

Holy Saturday is a day for silent and sustained reflection on the truth of God’s unending and undying love for his creation. We are used, are we not, to saying how God is all loving, loves everyone without exception, has created everything and nothing exists which has not been created by him. If we believe this then surely there is nothing beyond the embrace of his love. The child’s answer to the question is more profound than we can begin to imagine. This is the subject of the icon and no wonder it is entitled the King of Glory.

Holy Saturday is a day of waiting on God. It is not about our experience, but rather concerns how the death of Jesus has opened up for us a way through every power that would otherwise destroy us. The day is of a faithful waiting in the darkness of faith and invites a spirituality of silence. It is often only in silence and contemplation that we can allow God to reveal his divine greatness to us. Today is the day in which we are given breathing space, time to slow down and reflect on the bigger picture. Our challenge on Holy Saturday, is to take this unfathomable love of God to heart; it is a day when more than any other we should be aware of the life that makes us believe, the expectation of a new beginning, a new birth and the inexhaustible but now accessible divine potential that is all around us because of the King of Glory.

Easter Day – John 21: 1-14

This chapter is an addition to John’s Gospel but is full of inspirational encounters between the risen Jesus and his church represented by both a group of disciples and then two separate individuals.

These 14 verses are commemorated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee by a small chapel that is variously described as the Table of the Lord or the Primacy of Peter. Alongside the chapel there is a beautiful bronze sculpture showing the moment when Jesus commissions the leader of the Apostles to go and feed his sheep. It is of course the mission of the church to do just that; in a variety of ways to feed others, to provide for them good pasture and bring them into a new and eternal relationship with the Good Shepherd.

The story begins with the disciples returning to their former occupation as fishermen. One can well imagine the disappointment and resignation which results in an attitude which says that the past three years have been fun but now they are over and therefore we will have to go back to living as we did before. Fishermen they were and now they try again but extraordinarily with no success. Until, that is, the stranger calls from the shore and tells these experienced fishermen how to undertake their task. Surprisingly, they heed his advice. It’s only been a few years since these men sailed the lake and fished it everyday; one can imagine them pondering who is this person we do not recognise and yet tells us how to perform the task which has been ours for so long. In their pondering and amongst their questions the Beloved Disciple bears witness to an incomprehensible truth, “it is the Lord!” From a despairing return to former  occupation and out of despondency comes a witness of faith. The result of which is action on the part of Peter. But unusual action since plunging into water would  normally be preceded by the taking off of clothes… here Peter in confusion and or excitement puts on clothes and jumps in the water. How disorientating are meetings which reveal that Jesus is with us when we least expect him!

There follows the meal on the beach and Jesus commands them to eat – a characteristic element in many resurrection appearances. Guided by the faith of the Beloved Disciple and the action of Peter the disciples now recognise that the Risen Lord is present. On the beach, fish and bread are already prepared and we recall the miracle of John chapter 6. Within an overall message of a community gathered at the initiative of the risen Christ and under the leadership of Peter; assembled around elements of a meal … here we see the life of the Church … fed at the table of the Lord, led by her pastors and sent to feed others.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen

Easter Monday 

John 21:15 – 19

At the end of the Eucharist, after receiving communion we sit with the Lord very close. You have been fed by him just like Peter on the lake shore in these verses. Hopefully as you sit there is time for silence and stillness.

Jesus says to Peter – and imagine him saying to you – do you love me more than these? Who are “these”? When we read this passage I suspect that we think that Jesus is asking Peter whether he loves him more than any of the other disciples do.  In your context perhaps these others might be the other people with whom you habitually worship. Those who know, those you don’t, those who enjoy

being with and those who are sometimes quite difficult. Or perhaps it could be the people amongst whom you live or work. Once again some easy to get on with and others less so.

Maybe Jesus isn’t referring to the other disciples. He could possibly be referring to the tools of the fishermen’s trade which lay strewn around on the beach at his feet as he has this conversation with Peter; the nets, the lines, the hooks and the boat. Perhaps Jesus is asking Peter whether he loves him more than the tools of this trade, the one to which he has lately returned.

And this Easter Monday ponder the question of whether you love Jesus more than the stuff strewn around the house. You know, that special chocolate egg that you are keeping for an indulgent hour in front of the TV… looking forward to it after the long Lenten abstinence. However, of course, resurrection life is not about fasting but I’m sure there are things strewn around. The question is not do you love me instead of this, but more than these. Do you love me more than your belongings, those things in which you place your trust and your hope. This is not to say that your belongings are in any way bad or indulgent. Although, of course might be!

Resurrection is new life in its fullness and it involves a change of emphasis. The lesson of these verses is that to have life to the full is to change from placing my hope and trust in these things that belong to me and rather place my hope and trust in the one to whom I belong. Remember that earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus said that we belong to him. We belong to and therefore like Peter we follow him.

Easter Tuesday

John 21:20 – 24

Because we follow in the footsteps of the risen Lord we are never alone. Followers of Jesus are always part of crowd and innumerable company of those who are called to walk the path of holiness. Easter faith is in a  community of believers united with their risen Lord. So profoundly is this unity that his life is ours; his love is ours; and his mission is our mission.  It is important that we remember that in the first instance all of these are his things – they are not our belongings. They are the Lord’s and by the Spirit he pours them afresh on to his Body.

Peter asks the question, “what about him?” Is this a question of concern or comparison? Part of the joy and celebration of the resurrection is the knowledge that through the waters of new birth the Lord has not only made us part of his Body he has also given to us all the gifts necessary for us to play our part in the wholeness of his resurrected Body which continues throughout time. He has done that for you… and the others for whom you are concerned… therefore in the life of those on the path of holiness  comparisons are always odious.

You have all of the ingredients necessary for your own sanctification. If we compare it to the baking of a cake you have all of the things that are  necessary to produce a wonderful result. You might wish that you had a little less fruit and a little more cream but have what you have and looking over your shoulder wishing you had some of the ingredients of the person behind you is a pointless exercise. They have the ingredients that the Lord has showered upon them and you have those he has given to you. Each of us can make from the ingredients a saint that is me shaped.

As this is true of individuals making up one part of the church it is also true of the way in which Christians everywhere should pursue the path towards unity. Making the best of what the Lord has given, remaining faithful to that which he has shown and pursuing relentlessly the vision of God’s glory set before us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In these great 50 days as we celebrate once again, this gift of new life never fail to be thankful for the ingredients the Lord has given to you and, if you can, rejoice in the variety he has given to others.

Lent Bible Study Notes from the Society of St. Wilfred & St. Hilda in the South West

Lent 4— Day 1

In this season of Lent, we are used to thinking about Jesus spending forty days in the wilderness, fasting and facing temptation. If we are serious about our observance of Lent, we will be fasting ourselves, and giving serious thought to the temptations that particularly face us, so that we can, once again, re-focus our priorities, and attempt to shape our will more closely to the will of our heavenly Father.

But we perhaps think less about our ancestors in the faith who, in very different circumstances, spent time in the wilderness, and who were anxious about what they were going to eat, and who were tempted in various ways.

Our Old Testament reading (Numbers 21:4-9) this Sunday tells of the Hebrew people in the wilderness after their escape from slavery in Egypt, sometime before arriving in the promised land. This was not the first time that they had complained about lack of food: very soon after their escape from Egypt, they had complained about the prospect of starving in the wilderness, and God had sent them manna from heaven. He continued sending it for the forty years that they were in the wilderness, until they reached the land of Canaan (see Exodus 16). That is the “miserable food” which the people say they detest.

We might wonder at the lack of gratitude of the people who had not only been rescued from slavery, but who had also been fed in the wilderness. But if we wonder at their lack of gratitude, should we ask whether we are always grateful for the good things that our heavenly Father gives us?

The temptation of the people to argue with God was nothing new. The people had quarrelled with Moses before, when they had complained of thirst in the wilderness. In response to that complaint, the people had been given water to drink, when Moses struck the rock at Horeb, and water flowed out (see Exodus 17).

But at the time of their later complaining, after God has given them all that they needed to sustain them through their journey in the  wilderness, God punishes them for their complaining, by sending the poisonous serpents. Their earlier complaints had perhaps been justified. It may be that the people were right to express their fear that they might starve or die of thirst. But even then, there is a question about the way in which the people complained: the place where the water came from the rock was called Massah and Meribah, because it was the place where people had put God to the test.

So there is a challenge for us in this reading: are the things we complain about justified? And if they are, do we complain about them in a constructive way, rather than engage in troublesome quarrelling?

Lent 4— Day 2

The letter to the Ephesians holds out a great vision of the hope that we have in Christ, the hope that, through our participation in him, we can receive the reconciliation that he came to bring. That is the hope in which we travel through this Lenten season, and in which we make the journey through Holy Week and towards the resurrection. The letter particularly emphasises the breaking down of the distinction between Jew and Gentile, but puts this in the context of a cosmic reconciliation, which Christ can effect as head of all things. In the verses that immediately precede this Sunday’s New Testament reading (Ephesians 2:1-10), we are told that Christ has been made “the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all”.

It is the hope that we are part of the body of him who reigns over all things that helps us to make sense of our faith, and the difference that it should make to us. Through our baptism, we are able to participate in the life of Christ, who has been raised to the heavenly realm, and are encouraged to leave behind our former lives, when we were motivated solely by the concerns of this world. But, of course, our participation in the life of Christ does not remove us from the world in which we live. We need to make the regular, conscious effort to understand ourselves as part of the body of Christ, so that we are not carried away by the priorities of this world. We need to take a heavenly and eternal view of things, rather than an earthly and temporary view of them. To understand that our participation in Christ makes such a difference to the way we view things can be liberating. When we feel weighed down by particular circumstances, perhaps we need to remember that through God’s free flowing grace, we are called to be children of heaven, not subject to the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.

Lent 4—Day 3

This Sunday’s gospel (John 3:14-21) records the final part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had come to Jesus by night, presumably because he was scared of the reaction of the people if they heard his words to Jesus “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2).

This conversation with Nicodemus takes place early in Jesus’ earthly ministry. In chapter 2 of John’s gospel, we have heard of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, which was “the first of his signs”, before visiting Jerusalem for the Passover, and cleansing the temple of the money changers and their animals. People were beginning to believe in him because of the signs that he was doing.

This conversation is the first significant conversation in which Jesus speaks about himself, and so we hear a number of themes which are important in St John’s understanding of Jesus. For instance, he is the light who has come into the world, “the true light which enlightens everyone,” as he is described in the Prologue to the gospel (John 1:9), and it may be that this reference to light is intended to be read in contrast to Nicodemus coming to Jesus under cover of darkness.

He is also the one who will be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. The reference to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is significant: the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses brought about healing for the people who were bitten by snakes as punishment for speaking against God. As such, it was an instrument of reconciliation. Jesus, when he is lifted up, will be the instrument of a greater reconciliation, for, in the verse immediately before our given passage, Jesus says: “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man”. So, the one who will be lifted up on the cross is the one who descended from heaven, and the lifting up on the cross prefigures Christ’s return to the heavenly realm. For St John, the cross is not so much the place of death and defeat for Jesus, but a place that reveals the heavenly destiny of him, and of those who share his life.

Lent 4—Day 4

The readings we have been given for this Sunday challenge us to reflect on where we think we belong. The people in the wilderness yearned for security, so much so that they wondered whether it would have been better to have stayed in Egypt than to have escaped into the freedom of the wilderness. Like them, we might wonder what we have taken on in our Christian journey. Have we left old certainties behind in order to follow an uncertain path? Are we, like Jesus, going to have to face pain and rejection in living lives which might offend the sensibilities of those around us? Are we, like Nicodemus, inclined to go to Jesus by night for fear of the reaction of those who we know and love?

The need for security, the need to belong, the need to have a place that we think of as home are all important human needs, yet they can all too often imprison us, as fear of losing any of those things can hinder us from doing what we believe to be the right thing.

Yet, where is our true home, and where do we live our true lives? If, through our baptism, we live our lives as part of Christ’s body, then we are called to live lives that reflect our heavenly destiny. In the letter to the Colossians, St Paul writes

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your^* life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Our heavenly destiny is one of the themes of this Sunday’s readings. Jesus is the Son of Man who was lifted up for our salvation. His being lifted up on the cross is an event of huge and life-changing significance. Jesus descended from heaven in order to suffer for us, yet even his suffering was a form of exaltation, for through it, he establishes his mastery over the powers of death and hell, and wins for us our salvation. As the son who is obedient even to death, he is given the name that is above every name that he might rule over all things. And as our New Testament reading reminds us, God “has raised us with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.

Our ultimate home is in heaven with Christ, who descended in order that we might ascend with him. Do we live our lives as if our home is in heaven, or are we too attached to the things of the earth?

Lent 4—Day 5

This Sunday’s gospel contains one of the best known verses of scripture: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). It’s a verse that often finds itself quoted on billboards or in notices of death in local newspapers. And many of us know it set to music by John Stainer in his Crucifixion. In many ways, this verse is so well known and so popular because it contains the key message of the gospel in a single verse.

From the very beginning, God’s purposes have been loving. Being himself a relationship of perfect love between the three persons of the Trinity, he created humanity to live in relationship. Both accounts of the creation in Genesis show God ensuring that humanity would not be without love. In the first, he made them male and female from the beginning, so at no point was man alone, and in the second, he realises that “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Every act that God performs through the Biblical story is in response to his great love for his people, first for the chosen people of Israel, and then for the whole world. The story of God’s dealings with his people reveals that “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

In that love, he gives his only Son to be our Saviour. The one through whom life was created comes to be the one who restores the life lost through our disobedience. As Jesus says of himself, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). That promise of life through the Son runs through St John’s gospel. At the very beginning of the gospel we are told “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4). And towards the end of the gospel, we are told “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

In response to the great gift of Jesus, we are called to respond by believing, by trusting in him, and all that he reveals to us. Yet we are all prone to doubt, and we should be honest about those times when we doubt. It may be that in this Lenten season, we might want to refresh our faith and trust, perhaps by acknowledging our failings and our doubts in making our confession so that, experiencing his forgiveness and love, we may know ourselves restored to the life that he came to bring.

 

Lent 4—Day 6

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’” (Numbers 21:8)

In our Old Testament reading, the serpents were sent to punish the people for their complaining against God, and Moses was instructed to make a serpent and set it up in order to be a cure for those bitten by the serpents. In this story, we see some insights into the story of our redemption.

It is striking that the people were punished by serpents. It was through a serpent that sin first intruded upon the relationship between God and humanity in the Garden of Eden: in that sense, we are all bitten by the serpent, because we all inherit that tendency to sin from our first ancestors. Yet here, serpents are God’s agents, not the devil’s. God can take that which is destructive and use it for his own purposes. So, that which is destructive in our lives can be redeemed, if we are open to God’s grace.

When Moses prays for the people, who have asked him to pray that the Lord might take the serpents away, he doesn’t get the answer that people were hoping for. Instead of taking the serpents away, God gives a remedy for the serpent’s bite. As is so often the case, God doesn’t necessarily give us what we ask for when we pray. But there is another point here: the Israelites acknowledge that they have sinned, and are offered a remedy for the bites which they receive as punishment for their sin, but the serpents are not taken away. So it remains: the effects of our sin remain with us and with those against whom we sin, even though there is forgiveness for sins through Jesus. We must never presume that the possibility of forgiveness means that sin doesn’t matter. It does, and the effects of it can be felt long after confession has been made and absolution received. That is why penance and restitution for wrong done are a part of the process of the sacrament of reconciliation.

The bites of the serpents were cured by the bronze serpent being lifted up: it took a serpent being lifted up to cure the harm caused by the bites of serpents. So it is with us: it took a man to be lifted up to cure the harm caused by the sin of men. Of course, in this case, it was the Son of Man who was lifted up, but God came as man in order to restore man. As St Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans:

For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)

 

Lent 4—Day 7

“And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19).

Darkness and light are popular symbols. Any church which has held a candle-lit service at Advent or Christmas will know the appeal of such things: many people flock to them. But this raises the question: what is it that people flock to? Do they see some general sense of hope in the lights that shine in the darkness, or do they have an expectation of experiencing the true light that has come into the world?

The symbol of light is an appealing one, recognised by people of many faiths and none as a symbol of hope. Yet, for us who have responded to the revealing of Jesus Christ as the true light, there is a responsibility to proclaim that truth, and to share it with the world. It would be a bitter irony if the light which has come into the world to bring clarity and truth and judgement were to be hidden from the world because Christians were too timid to name him, but hide instead behind general assertions of hope and goodness.

The light has come into the world in a particular person, and we should not be afraid to name him. Indeed, we ought to heed the warning given by Jesus: “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

As we pass through this season of Lent, we move towards the great feast of Easter, when we will, once again, celebrate the hope of redemption and mercy. At the Easter Vigil, we will celebrate the new life offered by Jesus, who will be represented by the Paschal Candle: the true light shining in the darkness. As we renew our baptismal promises within that liturgy, we may also witness the baptism of new Christians. At the end of the liturgy, they will be presented with a candle lit from the Paschal Candle, and they will be given the instruction to “Shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the Father”. That is our vocation as baptised Christians, to take the light of Christ, and shine it, brightly, and unashamedly into the world he came to save.

 

Emmaus Tonight

Our Emmaus group meets again tonight at 6.30pm in the staffroom of Archbishop Benson School. Part 4 – “The Battle for Identity”!

Stations of the Cross and Benediction

Stations of the Cross and Benediction at St. George’s this Tuesday evening at 6.30pm. We shall be continuing our Journey following the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem.

Mothering Sunday – 18th March

Tags

day, Mothering, Mothering Sunday, mothers, mothers day, Sunday

Please note that the Family Eucharist at St. John’s this month has moved from the second Sunday to the third Sunday which is Mothering Sunday!

Lent Bible Study Notes from the Society of St. Wilfred & St. Hilda in the South West

Lent 3 – Day 1 Thursday—Exodus 20:1-17

Oh no! Exodus 20 – it’s the Ten Commandments… How many of us I wonder know what the Ten Commandments are? Often the only time we try to dredge them from the depths of our mind is at the quiz night, when everyone looks to us to answer the ‘religious’ question!

First, it’s interesting to note that the Ten Commandments also appear in Deuteronomy chapter five with only slight variations which perhaps only serves to emphasise the importance of these divine instructions.

The passage begins with these words: “God spoke…” and just to check, I have trawled various translations and most begin verse 1 with; “Then God spoke all these words.” or similar. This is important because Orthodox Christians believe that the Ten Commandments are not only a wonderful piece of Old Testament literature, but were given by God Himself, through Moses, to the people of Israel.  Indeed, these commandments were destined to shape the morals of the society of the world.

The passage is known as the “Decalogue” or “Ten Words”. Originally, it is believed that the commandments consisted of ten short, rhythmical clauses which were easy to commit to memory. The oral tradition allowed the “Commandments” to evolve over the millennia into what we have today. Down through history, the Ten Commandments have become immensely influential in all aspects of human society and law making.

It is important however, to understand the full context of this passage which comes after the Israelites escape from Egypt. Indeed, the whole of the Book of Exodus is significant. Chapters 1-24 deal, essentially with two episodes. The first is the escape from Egypt of the Israelite people and the second is the giving of the law at Sinai and the establishing of God’s covenant.

After the first Passover, Moses leads his people towards the Red Sea under the protection of God. God allows the Israelites to cross the parted Red Sea and defeats the pursuing Egyptians engulfing them in the broiling waters. They continue their journey to Mount Sinai encountering various difficulties along the way. During this time their faith and obedience to God is tested. This is a recurring theme throughout Exodus – God, time and again demanding the Israelite people “obey My voice and keep My covenant”, and again “if you will obey me and keep My covenant…you will be My chosen people”.

Eventually, they come to Mount Sinai where they make camp and Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God. Here then occurs a “Theophany”, or God “happening” event. A Theophany is a divine appearance of God as revelation. In this case it is God delivering to Moses the Law and these Commandments were to binding upon the covenant Israelite people (Exodus 19:9-20:20).

The significance and importance of the commandments for us have been deepened by Christ’s own teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and summed up by Him in the precepts of love toward God and one’s neighbour, as it is mentioned in Mark (12:29-31), “You shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” also, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (cf Deut. 6:4,5; Lev. 19:18).

Lent 3 – Day 2 Friday—1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Time and again we find that Jesus turns human concepts completely on their head. To humans these ideas were simply foolish or stupid; “Love your enemy”, “Turn the other cheek”, “If someone steals your shirt from you, give them your coat, too”, are simply not how we normally react in such situations. Often there is a tendency for humans to retaliate, be aggressive or demand recompense but that is not the way of Jesus, His way is different. As Disciples of Christ we are called to be different. That is what makes us distinctive in the world.

The death of Christ came as a massive blow to His disciples and followers who, even up the time of His crucifixion, didn’t really understand all that He had been teaching them. In their hearts they thought they knew but their heads seems to tell them otherwise. Their miscomprehension extended even to misunderstanding His ultimate purpose. The story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus must be the ultimate summing up of that disillusionment and lack of understanding. (Luke 24:13-35)

The teaching of Jesus is difficult to comprehend sometimes, and yet it has been the same down through the ages. As a consequence, the Christian faith seems incomprehensible at best, and complete folly, at worst to the casual enquirer. How can the death of Christ possibly be comprehended as “Good News”?  It could be stated that this is the primary purpose of Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth – to present the death and resurrection of Christ as “Good News”. Significantly, the Church at Corinth was located near the centre of the Roman Province of Achaia in one of the most important cities in Greece.

This passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians explores the Greek and Jewish difficulties with the death and resurrection of Christ – the Christian faith, as we might see it. The Jew’s stumbling block was that they could not accept that God’s chosen One could be put to death on a Cross. They even referred to the Jewish Law to support that view – “anyone hanged [from a tree]is a curse of God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). Paradoxically therefore, for the Jews, rather than proving that Jesus was the Son of God, His death on the Cross, disproved it finally! Consequently, the Cross was an insuperable barrier for the Jews.

To the Greeks, who were a cultured and reasoning people, the Cross was simply an anathema because it contradicted their understanding of the nature of God.  Their interpretation of the character of God was ‘apetheia’, a Greek word that means more than just ‘apathy’, but ‘without feeling’.  They simply could not understand a God who suffered and this represented for the Greeks an unacceptable contradiction.

As we continue our journey through Lent we continue our struggle with the Cross in trying to understand that Christ crucified is the power of God to save, and that the saved are not the wise of this world, but those who believe.

Lent 3 – Day 3 Saturday—John 2:13-22

The chronology of John can sometimes be confusing as it doesn’t always align with that of the other Gospels. In this passage we have Jesus returning briefly to Capernaum after the wedding at Cana in Galilee, before heading into Jerusalem to observe the Passover. There He encounters and confronts those trading in sheep and cattle, and the money changers. This is an episode well known to us as revealing perhaps a different side to Jesus. We normally prefer to envisage Jesus as the ‘meek and mild’ One, whereas here we see His anger flare and a flash of violence.

The “Temple cleansing” is recorded in all four Gospels but the chronology differs in this passage from the three synoptic Gospels. We must understand that the Gospel writers are recording the stories from different perspectives. In Mark’s Gospel, the earliest of the Synoptics, this event is recorded in chapter 11 vs. 15-19 after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (also  Matthew 21:12-17 and Luke 19:45-48). This is because the Synoptic Gospels focus more on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee whereas John concentrates on His ministry in Jerusalem.

I give the various references for the same event as they do differ in intensity. In John’s Gospel we even read that Jesus fabricated a weapon – “a whip out of some cord” (v15) in order to drive out the undesirables! It worth reflecting on the different accounts as this passage is seen as a self contained event in John whereas in the other Gospels it forms part of Jesus’ attack on the Temple corruption.

For the community John is seeking to communicate with, Jesus’ body is the Temple. This fits with John’s known desire to portray the truth rather than mere facts about Jesus – what is important to John is the divinity of Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed One, the second person of the Holy Trinity – and this is profound importance to us as we reflect on the coming Passion of Christ.

The mystery of the Passion of Christ is something central to our Lenten preparations of the Resurrection. We must contemplate why Christ had to die on the Cross and that His suffering and death was endured for us. The intensity of the Passion story is one that we tend to shy away from as it makes us feel uncomfortable. This is precisely why we must journey through Holy Week, including all the uncomfortable parts, in order to come to the Cross with a greater understanding of ‘why?’ Only then can we fully rejoice at His resurrection on Easter Day.

Perhaps, what also matters to us is this week is that we see our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit and during this season of Lent reflect on how we might ‘cleanse that temple’ by driving out all corruption, malice and delusion from our lives in order that we might be more worthy of receiving the gift and promise of eternal life won for us by Christ’s death and resurrection..

Lent 3 – Day 4 Sunday  – John 2:13-22

We all begin Lent with the very best of intentions but even after a few days we lapse and before we know it several weeks of Lent have gone by and Holy Week is upon us. Even now, it is still not too late to engage and maybe this is the very time.

Three weeks into Lent let’s remind ourselves that the Gospel reading from John this Sunday comes just after the miracle that Jesus performed at the wedding in Cana. At the wedding He turns water into wine – a  theological symbol that the Messianic era has arrived! This is an important reminder! It is a time of joy and celebration; a new era has begun and Christ, the Messiah is at the very heart of it. That is the first thing that Jesus does.

So today we see Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem inaugurating this messianic age in a public act of astounding boldness. In John’s Gospel this event happens at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry indicating that the old ways of Temple worship are to be purified and replaced by the person of the risen Christ.

At the very heart of our faith is the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ changes all things, the old order falls away and Jesus, the new order, prevails in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesies. Jesus knows that He has to make this known and so the ‘cleansing of the Temple’ needs to be seen in this context.

Jesus expelling the sheep traders, the cattle traders and money changers, is a sign that an Old Testament prophecy is being fulfilled. For in the time when God’s kingdom is to burst into history as the prophet Zechariah foretells, “there will be no more traders in the Temple” (Zechariah 14:21). The prophet Malachi too foresees that on that day “the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple” (Malachi 3:1).

The Messiah’s reign begins publicly, in John’s Gospel, with this powerful symbolic act – and, significantly, it begins right in the heart of God’s Holy house. This house will no longer be a building of stone, but the person of Jesus Christ and it is the Holy body of Christ which will be His Church. Jesus is declaring through his actions that the messianic age begins at this moment with Him, the Christ. From now on there will be no need to exchange Roman money for Temple coins to buy sacrificial animals. Christ’s death on the Cross eliminates for all time the need or animals to be sacrificed. His sacrifice will be sufficient for all time. John’s immense desire to reveal that this claim of Jesus of ushering in the messianic age, linked with the reference to his resurrection, (v 19 “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”) is the key to understanding the whole of John’s  Gospel. So the spectre of the Cross and the victory of the resurrection are both woven into this story.

As we continue our personal preparations of the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ at Easter, now is a good time to ponder whether our own bodies are worthy of being Temples of the Living God and, if not how we might allow Jesus to drive out the undesirable things in our own lives. That means that whatever pollutes the dwelling-place of God within each of us needs to be eradicated and destroyed. For us to be worthy temples of the Holy Spirit, we need to purify ourselves of our sins and self-centredness – and that may require us to be as tough and bold on ourselves as Jesus was on the traders. Then, perhaps, we as members of His Church, will be able to exercise something of the love for God and for others that we see in the life of Christ and of his saints.

Lent 3 – Day 5 Monday

Destroy this Temple and I will build it up in three days – John 2:13-25

“Then His disciples remembered…”One of the great comforts of the Gospels is that the disciples are depicted as being just like us. They were not selected by Jesus because they were great academics or chosen because of their administrative or political skills. They are just ordinary young men. This phrase, “Then His disciples remembered…” is surprising in some ways. We tend to associate forgetfulness with those of a more senior disposition not the young! But here we have John specifically recording that the disciples remembered, thereby insinuating that they had forgotten. What they remember are the words of scripture. They are recalling the words from Psalm 69; “Zeal for your house will devour me”. Suddenly, in a moment, the events unfolding before them begin to make sense and realisation dawns.

Later in the same passage they have another recollection further completing the picture for them! “His disciples remembered…” This time their recollection is not words of scripture but rather words that Jesus had previously spoken to them. They relate to a central and important aspect of this encounter with the Jewish authorities.  Jesus was using the cleansing of the Temple incident to illustrate that the Temple to which He was referring was not the Temple built of stone but the Temple that was His Body. The rebuilding of the Temple in three days was, of course an allusion to His resurrection from the dead.

“And they believed the scripture and the words He had said”. In that moment it would seem that the disciples comprehended that this extraordinary Man was the Christ; God Himself, the second person of the Holy Trinity – an immense realisation. John records that “they believed”. I wonder if, in their own minds, they really grasped what was going on. Did they really recognise Christ and understand that He was to die and rise again? Do we? These are questions for us not just to ponder, but engage with ourselves as we approach Holy Week and Easter. Do we really and fully understand that Christ loved us so much that He died for us? Or do we sometimes forget?

Contemplation of the Passion of Christ will see the disciples once again not remembering the things they have only just remembered! We shall see that they all run away not even remembering their own pledges to follow Him even if it meant laying down their lives for Him. (John 13:36-39)

Jesus knows us well. He knows how frail and weak we are. He knows that we will forget. When we come before His Altar at Mass, we remember. We remember, every time, that Christ died for us and rose again to new life. We recall the words of Christ “Do this in remembrance of Me” every time we celebrate the Mass, and we do it because we do forget.

Lent 3 – Day 6 Tuesday

The Law was given through Moses – Exodus 20:1-17

The writer of the Book of Exodus uses the word “Remember” particularly in relation to the Sabbath; “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy.”

It could be argued that the underlying, unwritten theme of the Law giving is also “remember”. Remember you shall have no Gods except me, remember you shall not, remember, remember, remember. As human beings we constantly have to be reminded. We also have to remember that the Ten Commandants were communicated to Moses at a time when the Jewish people were living as half barbarous nomads who were easily distracted and easily led astray. They seemed frequently to forget God and followed the desires and devices of their own hearts. Whilst the Ten Commandments have been influential in shaping western morality they are not necessarily a complete statement of Christian morality. They were intended as a summary of the Mosaic Law.

Jesus respected the Law and did not cast aside the Law, indeed He said “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them”.

Jesus sought to complete the Law by turning upside down human ways of thinking. He turns the negatives of “You shall not” into the positives of “You shall” and infuses these new commandments with the love He showed at Calvary.

As we saw on Day 1 of our reflection this week, of all the commandments Jesus reminds us that there are two which are the greatest; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You must love your neighbour as yourself”. He goes on to say, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”. Thus Jesus completes and perfects the Ten Commandments for us all by brining a personal element to the rawness of the Law.

These are appeals to the heart to change and become like Him. Christ shows us by His life and death how we should respond to the commandments. He fulfils and affirms His ways by His resurrection. If we need reminding what it means to be fully human, fully loving, fully obedient, fully content, fully happy, then we need only look to Christ and remember His command to love.

Lent 3 – Day 7 Wednesday

“What folly” you might say! We are called to follow to one whose apparent weakness led to His death and demise? In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he is trying to convey the message that we cannot apply human thinking to Christ’s death. To human thinking ‘winning and losing’ is all that seems to matter. We can understand that – the victor conquers and the loser, submits.

This, of course, is not the full story. We are called to follow one who gave His life on the Cross and rose again. In Christ’s topsy turvy world what appears to be His weakest moment of all (His death on the Cross) is actually His moment of triumph and victory. It is in His dying that we are reconciled to God once and for all.  It is in His death that we are redeemed and saved. When Christ is buried, the sins of all humanity are buried with Him. In the darkness of the grave lie all the dark and dismal aspects of humanity’s failure to remember what Jesus taught us; “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind” and “love your neighbour as yourself”. On all those occasions we forgot, Jesus says, “I forgive you, I die for you, so that you might have life”.

But that’s not right, surely? Did Jesus really have to die to take away the sins of the world? There must have been another way? The Jews demanded miracles and the Greeks, wisdom, in order to try to understand.

“None of this makes sense either to the Jews, or to the Greeks or indeed to us. But then we are applying our human thinking again! God says, “I will send my Son, Jesus” and Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). By the gift of faith we know that Christ had to die in order that we might be free. When we  remember that Christ had to die for us that we might have life in all its fullness, then the preaching of that death, of that crucifixion, begins to make sense especially in light of the resurrection.

Rather than weakness and failure we begin to see glory and victory, and freedom and life. For it is in Christ’s resurrection that the true meaning of His death is found. In His wisdom, God sent His Son that we might be reconciled to Him. When we come before His altar we move just a little closer to fuller enlightenment. As creatures of the Sacrament, it is in the Sacrament that we commune with the risen Christ and our spiritual eyes are opened.

Jesus is the sacrament of God. In Jesus, God comes to meets us. The inward reality is that Jesus is fully God and fully human. Jesus no longer walks in Palestine teaching, healing and forgiving sins, but His ministry continues through His spirit filled people, the Church. That is why we must preach a crucified Christ. The sacramental life of the Church flows from the Cross, from the broken heart of Jesus.

The Sacrament is therefore, a life giving encounter with the crucified and risen Christ; an obstacle to the Jews and madness to the Greeks, but for us, those who have been called, a Christ who is the wisdom and power of God.

St. George’s Social and Fundraising Events

12th May – 10.00am till noon  Coffee Morning in the church hall

30th June – 1.00pm Vicarage barbecue – all welcome!

7th October – Harvest Supper after Evensong at 6.00pm

1st December – 10.00am till noon Advent Coffee Morning in the church hall

Lent Bible Study Notes from the Society of St. Wilfred & St. Hilda in the South West

Lent 2—Wednesday: First Reading: Genesis 17, 1-7, 15 & 16

There are two important ideas in this passage, those of covenant and the significance of names. A covenant is an agreement between two parties in which both are guaranteed certain benefits and in which both undertake certain obligations. The covenant with Abraham is preceded by the covenants with Adam and Noah and will be followed by the covenant with Moses and the people of Israel. All of these Old Covenants look forward to the New Covenant which God will make with the whole human race in Jesus Christ, which the Church is called to bear witness to and live out. The outward sign of the covenant with Abraham is circumcision. Circumcision was not unique to the descendants of Abraham

What was unique was that it would be given at birth instead of at puberty as in most other cultures. This underscores the fact that the covenant is a life long, everlasting covenant, made by an eternal God. For Christians, baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of the covenant. During Lent we reflect on our baptism and prepare to renew our baptismal promises, making a fresh commitment to faithfully keeping those promises as our part of the Covenant.

The promises to Abraham and Sarah are unilaterally declared by God, with no prior conditions stipulated. This does not, however, mean that our response is irrelevant. In verse 1 God tells Abram “walk before me and be blameless” The word translated as “blameless” should be understood to refer to maturity, wholesomeness or faithfulness, rather than being without sin. In the same way we as Christians are to strive to be faithful to our Baptismal promises, even though we often fail to do so and  therefore need to confess our sins. The act of acknowledging and confessing our sins is in itself an act of faithfulness.

This brings us to the names. The name by which God is called in this passage is El Shaddai, literally God of the mountains, or God who is everlasting. A mountain represents permanence and majestic glory. Lent is a good time to contemplate the grandeur and glory of the eternal God we worship and before whom we are to walk in a mature, wholesome and faithful relationship. Abram and Sarai both have their names changed. A change of name suggests a new relationship and again reminds us of our baptism, where we receive Christ’s name as we become Christians. Abraham’s new name means father of amultitude, a name of which he was to prove worthy. Are we worthy of the name of Christian which we bear?

Lent 2—Day 2 : Second Reading: Romans 4: 13-25

In Romans 4, St Paul describes Abraham as the example of a human being living in a right relationship with God. Abraham trusts (or believes) that God will fulfil His promise (4:1-5). In fact Abraham is not merely the example but the forefather for all, both circumcised and uncircumcised, who live in right relationships with God, since the key to such a relationship is faith (4:9-12). The principle themes in this reading are God’s promises and Abraham’s faith or faithfulness, themes to which we were introduced in the first reading.

The letter to the Romans is unique among St Paul’s letters in that it was written to a Christian community that Paul had not yet visited. One of the issues faced by the Church in Rome, as by many of the early Christian communities at the time, was conflict between Christians of Jewish origin and those of pagan birth. Abraham for Paul is important in this in that while he was the ancestor of the people of Israel, he was also the father of a multitude of nations, of the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Paul is at pains to point out that the relationship between God and Abraham’s descendants is based not on observance of the Law, but on faith. Any relationship based on the Law is going to lead to divine judgement and retribution (verse 15). A right relationship with God cannot be based on legal claims and  guarantees but on God’s faithful to His promises and on Abraham and Abraham’s descendants putting their trust in this faithful God. Christians of both Jewish and Pagan birth therefore stand in the same relationship to God and therefore there should be able to live, worship and work together for the Kingdom.  Abraham could also be a unifying figure for us today when we consider our relationships with people of other faiths. Christians, Jews and Muslims all look to Abraham as our founding father, Christianity, Judaism and Islam being described as the Abrahamic faiths.

Lent might be a time to ask ourselves how much we know about those other great faiths and to challenge our attitudes towards them. Do we look down on them out of ignorance and prejudice, or do we seek to reach out to them in the love of Christ? This does not mean compromising on our own believes, especially our beliefs about Jesus as the Son of God, but rather understanding the beliefs of others and how those beliefs could enable us to  present Christ to them in an attractive way.  Paul is saying to all of us that God invites us into an intimate relationship with Himself. We need to respond with trust and faith to what God did, does, and will do for us through Jesus Christ. Even when human sin and death make it appear that it can’t happen, we , like Abraham, trust that “God will.”

Lent 2—Day 3 : Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

The Gospel for the Second Sunday in Lent is part of a longer section in St Mark’s Gospel beginning at chapter 8 verse 22 and ending at chapter 10 verse 52. These chapters could be described as the heart of St Mark’s gospel, and they begin and end with stories of the

healing of blind men. In 8:22-26 Jesus privately heals a man’s blindness, though it requires two steps to complete the process. In 10:46-52, Jesus publicly and instantly heals the blindness of Bartimaeus. In between these stories Jesus speaks three times about his approaching suffering and death. Our reading for today is the first of these “predictions ofthe passion.”

Each of these is followed by a story showing that the disciples have not understand what the Lord has said to them. The immediate background to this story is Peter’s great confession of faith about who Jesus is: “You are the Christ”. Peter does not define what he means by “the Christ” or “the Messiah” in Hebrew. Jesus does this himself in the passage we are considering; the Christ is the one who will suffer, be rejected, and put to death and rise again. Peter, however,cannot except this and wishes to correct it. We should perhaps here him saying to Jesus with great love and concern, “Lord, don’t even go there!” This earns him a stinging rebuke.  The word translated as “rebuke” is the same word that Jesus uses when addressing demons. Indeed, he addresses Peter as Satan. If this seems unusually harsh we need to be clear about what Peter is doing. He is trying to redefine Jesus and his mission as the Christ in purely human terms. To try and limit God in His dealings with the world according to our human way of thinking is the very work of the devil. This might be a profitable line for our self-examination during the season of Lent:

Have we tried to get God to fit into our plans and our way of doing things, have we tried to make God in our own image? Accepting the kind of Messiah that Jesus defines himself to be has profound and costly implications for us, as we see in verse 35. As the Son of Man will suffer and die to fulfil God’s plans for the salvation of the world, so must those who follow him be willing to loose their lives for his sake and for the sake of the Gospel.

Lent 2—Day 4 : Reflections

Today’s Gospel comes, as we have seen from a section of St Mark’s Gospel which begins and ends with accounts of blind men who receive their sight again. Physical blindness is often used by the Gospel writers as a metaphor for spiritual blindness. In St  Matthew’s Gospel Jesus described the Pharisees and scribes as blind guides, warning his disciples:

Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people.  But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.  (Matthew 15.14)

Whilst the physically blind may have their sight restored, the Pharisees wilfully refuse the allow the Lord to heal them of their spiritual and moral blindness. The physically blind know that they are blind and came to Jesus to have their sight restored, while the Pharisees’ blindness extended to their own condition. They were so complacent, so sure of their own moral and spiritual superiority over everyone else that they do not recognise their blindness.

This spiritual blindness is not limited to the Pharisees. The Church in Laodicea is rebuked for its complacency in the Revelation of St John the Divine:

 

After all, you say, ‘I’m rich, and I’ve grown wealthy, and I don’t need a thing.’ You don’t realize that you are miserable, pathetic, poor, blind, and naked. (Revelation 3.17)

The same could be said, to some, extent of St Peter in today’s  Gospel. On the one hand he has the great, God-given insight into the true nature of Jesus, recognising and publicly proclaiming him to be the Messiah, but then displaying woeful blindness about the true nature of the Messiah he has recognised.  In the first reading, Abram is also shown to have blind spots. God had promised him that he would be the Father of a great nation in spite of the fact that his wife was past the age of child bearing. Abram tried to take matters into his own hands by fathering a child by his slave girl Hagar. Today’s Reading comes thirteen years after the birth of Hagar and Abram’s child Ishmael. Even when God promises Abraham again that he will have a son by Sarai, Abraham does not believe Him, but laughs in disbelief, so much so that he falls over. Abraham finds it hard to take God at his word , focusing more on his and Sarah’s age and Sarah’s barrenness. This second Sunday of Lent is a time to acknowledge our own spiritual blindness, our unwillingness, like Peter and Abraham, to see things as God sees them, but also to receive the good news that God in Christ is able to redeem our spiritual blindness as he did that of Abraham and Peter.

Lent 2—Day 5 : Genesis 17. 1-2

In the opening verses of Genesis 17 we hear God instructing Abram. In a homily, St Clement of Alexander points out that this instruction forms Abram into a faithful child. God does not instruct in a harsh or dictatorial manner but with warmth, love and friendship.  Having illustrated the importance of instruction, As therefore the general directs the phalanx, consulting the safety of his soldiers, and the pilot steers the vessel, desiring to save the passengers; so also the Instructor guides the children to a saving course of conduct, through solicitude for us; (Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, chapter VII),

Clement stresses that if instruction is to be effective the person being instructed must have faith in the one who instructs him. Abram is formed into Abraham because he has faith in the God who is instructing him.  St Clement contrasts the instruction that God gives with that given by the instructors of classical antiquity such as the womanising Phoenix, instructor of Achilles and Leonides, the ineffectual tutor of Alexander the Great. They pass onto their charges their own faults and failings, whereas God guides those who embrace his instruction into the ways of truth and peace.

Lent is a time for instruction, for deepening our knowledge and love of God by prayer and study. If we will willingly set aside time for this, God will teach us as he taught Abraham, not simply increasing our store a facts but teaching us how to live a blameless life, in other words, empowering us with true wisdom. This is perhaps more important than ever in these days when the digital revolution has made such a vast amount of information so readily available. We need to learn to use these vast stores of knowledge and facts in such a way that it will draw us closer to the Lord and enable us to reach out to others in His name.  It might be helpful to ponder this reflection on the thought of Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase “The medium is the message” and has been described as the philosopher of technology:every innovation is an amputation. For example, when you invent the wheel, your legs become weaker. When you invent the television, your ability to become present becomes weaker. When you invent the amplifier, your voice becomes weaker. We need to reflect on this powerful insight and ask, In what ways is technology subtracting or amputating just at the moment we think it’s adding and empowering? We should always use it with care, remembering that Jesus modelled personal incarnation, not projection and amplification. (Shane Hipps: Flashing Pixels – How technology shapes your faith)

Lent 2—Day 6 : Reflections on Romans 4: 19 & 20

Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith in God was the source of his righteousness and that this faith was in a God who could do the impossible.

He (that is, Abraham) did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God (Romans 4: 19-20)

This of course reminds us of the Annunciation to Our Lady, where Gabriel says to Mary For with God nothing will be impossible. (Luke 1:37)

Just as Abraham does not weaken in faith when he considers his own impotence and his wife’s barren womb, Mary does not weaken in faith as she considers her virginity. This leads us as Catholic Christians to speak of Mary as our Mother in the faith just as Abraham is our Father in the faith. (Romans 4:16)

This faith in God doing the impossible is a key to our understanding of the Gospel and St Paul’s teaching on justification by faith, which abolishes the distinction between Jew and Gentile. For Gentiles God can do the impossible and make those who were not Israelites part of the people of God without being circumcised and adopting the Jewish law. It is also based on creation and resurrection. God is able to do the impossible in creating out of nothing and bringing the dead back to life. Ultimately, faith in a God who does the impossible is faith in the love of God who does the impossible by loving the seemingly unlovely and unlovable; sinners such as ourselves.

This faith in God who is able to do the impossible, who is able to bring life of out of the apparently lifeless bodies of Abraham and Sarah, the virgin womb of the Blessed Virgin or the very place of death, the sepulchre of Christ, is the source of our Christian hope. There is much today to tempt us to despair; the financial crises at home and abroad, ongoing violence and injustice in places such as Syria, the advance of militant atheism and secularism and even attempts within the Church to water down the historic faith. In the face of these, we take our stand with Abraham, Our Lady and St Paul; we refuse to compromise and refuse to despair, renewing this Lent our faith in the God who does the impossible and brings life out of death.

Lent 2—Day 7 : Mark 8: 35

In verse 31 Jesus had told his disciples that he will be handed over to his enemies, will suffer and die and on the third day will rise again. It seems that Peter and probably the other disciples hear only the part about suffering and dying but fail to hear the promise of resurrection on the third day.

In verse 35 Jesus says that what happens to him will also befall those who follow him faithfully; rejection, suffering, death and also resurrection. The implication of verse 35, however is that those who are willing to follow Jesus along this road of suffering, death and resurrection are going to be the real winners in life, whereas those who seek to avoid suffering are going to ultimately loose out.

 

We understand today all to easily what Jesus means by loosing the life that we have been building. The person who is successful in his career and then suddenly finds himself redundant, the busy professional who experiences mid-life burn out and breakdown, the couple whose marriage fails after twenty years or more, the  successful and happy person who is suddenly diagnosed with an incurable disease. In all these we can see what loosing our life is, sometimes literally, but how do we turn this around so that we loose our life in such as way as to gain it again? Where does the resurrection come in? Possibly the key words in this passage are for my sake and the gospel’s. It is only when we experience disaster and loss because we are living for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, that that we experience resurrection. How do we ensure that we are living our lives and experiencing all for the sake of Christ and the Gospel? It takes a lifetime to answer that question, but the answer begins by accepting that there is no pain free way to live the Gospel. There must always be, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, a cost of discipleship. To loose our lives in such a way as to find it means learning to say no to false offers of happiness.

The Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama was deeply impressed by the wrinkled faces and rough hands of a group of Russian peasant women he saw on a visit to Moscow. He wrote:

In their wrinkled faces and rough hands I saw trouble that produced endurance. How hard they must have worked all through their lives with those hands. Merciful hands must show themselves as hard, worn hands, not as beautiful, attractive hands. How eloquent are those rough, tired hands. They fended off despair by working, working on through intolerable situations. Endurance brings God’s approval. In endurance life is taken seriously. Trouble is not cheated or avoided. It is faced. (Kosuke Koyama, Three mile an hour God).

Together in Worship at St. George’s TODAY

Meet for breakfast at 10.00am in St. George’s Hall followed by half hour Family Worship in church from 10.30am! All welcome!!