St Paul’s Canterbury , 11^th August  2013, Pentecost 12

Second Stewardship Sermon in Series of Three

The Rev'd Jonathan Chambers

Luke 12: 32-40

Watchful Slaves

It looks like we will meet our budget this year – first time for years. So if we are tracking alright  – you may well ask

“Why would you want to be bringing up the unseemly subject of giving and money?”

What I want to talk about this morning is not about fund raising or what the church needs to make ends meet. It’s about Spirituality and what it means to be a Christian.

I’ve been reading a book called “Radical Hospitality” – about Benedictine spirituality and our need to be hospitable to strangers. Written by an American Benedictine monk and a lay woman in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centre, the book acknowledges the anxiety of being attacked again but clearly tackles the spiritual dangers of living in fear. 

“Fear is a thief. It will steal our peace of mind and that’s a lot to lose. But it also high jacked our relationships, keeping us sealed up in our plastic world with a fragile sense of security.

Being people who fear the stranger, we have drained the life juices out of hospitality….Benedictine hospitality is not about sipping tea and making bland talk with people who live next door or work with you. Hospitality is a lively, courageous, and convivial way of living that challenges our compulsion to either turn away or turn inward and disconnect from others” P.9

So what’s this got to do with Stewardship and giving to the Parish? ……Everything.

What stops us from reaching out and offering acceptance or hospitality to the unknown stranger?

What stops us giving sacrificially to our church and others???

FEAR . FEAR that we won’t have enough for ourselves. Fear that what we do have may be taken away.

The book goes on

“Hospitality is not optional for a well balanced and healthy life. It meets the most basic need of the human being to be known and to know others. It addresses the core loneliness that we avoid with the bustle and hast of our hectic lives. There is the big loneliness at the centre of every person. It is universal. There’s a reason for the loneliness. It’s meant to lead somewhere. Even if you are unconscious of it, the big lonely is driving you homeward”

The big loneliness is that empty feeling, which can persist; even when we are surrounded by a room full of people or a house full of all the gadgets and creature comforts imaginable.

Stewardship is most importantly about our spiritual journey and our need to give, in the same way as the “big lonely empty feeling can only be satiated by giving of ourselves in a relationship to God and our Neighbour.

You may or may not recall ….that at your baptism you or your Godparents promised on your behalf

 “..by God’s grace I will strive to live as a disciple of Christ, loving God with my whole heart, and my neighbour as myself, until my life’s end”

Stewardship is about living out that promise. It’s not about the church needing money, but about your need to give, if you are really serious about satiating that big empty feeling at your centre.

Three weeks ago the Men’s Spirituality Group had a weekend away at Toolangi.  Fr John Stewart led us on Saturday for a quiet Day and talked about God who loves us unconditionally  – who continually takes the initiative to enter our lives and transform us , if only  if we are open to listening and seeing.

He started off with Leunig cartoon and story about Daffodils and Transformation

(See Pew Sheet)

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE - He had heard of near death experiences and their transforming power, but he had never had one. It seemed to him that much of humanity was near death - the way people watched so much television! The living dead, he thought. While he was out walking, it occurred to him that modern existence itself might be a constant, near death experience. A flower truck turned a corner and a load of daffodils spilled from the back and buried him. He lay bewildered for a moment under the glowing yellow heap, and then poked his head out into the sunshine. He saw his reflection in a shop window. He smelled the daffodils. How lovely! He thought. It was a near life experience, and already a transformation was in progress.                        Leunig

 

`

So you might say what’s the  evidence of Transformation here at St Pauls??

Well that fact that the number of people pledging has increased from 63 to 84 in the last 3 years is great and to be celebrated. On the other hand the average weekly giving at St Paul’s is $25 per week.

Frankly this doesn’t seem to be much, and it suggests that there may be a lot of fear around.

Stewardship and giving is about our relationship with God and our neighbour. How much are you able to risk? Giving of ourselves in relationships as well as in our possessions can be  scary. But in today’s Gospel Jesus says

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is the place where God rules. Being part of the Kingdom and receiving the Kingdom is only achieved by following Jesus and taking the risk- that’s what “living by faith” is actually about. Like Abraham, taking God at his promise and setting out into the unknown. Its about putting your trust in Jesus and seeing what happens.

The passage goes on

“Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys”.

So what does this mean in today’s context? Do I have to give everything away? Is the Datsun up for gabs again this year? What about my family and responsibilities?

How much you give is between you and God to talk about. God doesn’t expect us to be stupid, but God does expect us to give sacrificially, regularly and as the first priority from our income – not just what’s left over.

If 100% of all that I have comes from God, how much am I willing to give back? The Bible talks of a tithe or 10%; which is  a fairly confronting starting point.

You may say “what about my family”- God wouldn’t expect them to miss out?

I’m sure God wouldn’t, Gods wants us to love and care for our families,  however for all of us there is a difference between what we need and what we want. What messages are we giving to our children about where true values lie, if we are consumed by consumerism?

The values of the Kingdom are so contrary to all the messages I hear in the media - particularly advertising

 "You’ve got to have this Big TV, car, spa, pool, GPS, Home Theatre, Coffee Maker, Ipod, Ipad, Lounge suite…or to win Lotto to be happy"

It’s very difficult to resist isn’t it?

Yet I know that my regular giving to my church is the best proof that I have to myself that I’m not consumed by consumerism.

It also helps deal with the deluge of demands I receive from so many other worthy causes.

(Like the people who try to sell me ballpoint pens over the phone at tea time)

When I know that I have a regular commitment to my parish that is then used for local ministry and beyond, then I know that I’m doing my bit. I’m doing what God wants and I can say No to others without those languishing feelings of guilt.

By giving regularly and sacrificially I know that I’m engaging life. I’m doing something to overcome the excesses and inequalities of our society. As a Christian I’m not just a passive victim who feels overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems; I can say- to the extent of my ability  I’m contributing to the solution - and thank God I can. In this there is real freedom.

Stewardship and sacrificial giving isn’t however just for your own good in enabling you to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Importantly it’s also about doing justice and including others.

By giving, you enable ministry in the Canterbury area. We are the church charged with the awesome responsibility of giving voice to the unspeakable, of providing rituals which enable healing; of conducting the funerals and giving hope to the frightened. We are called to be light and salt- a people that bring hope and affirmation of all that is good.

Each year in UFTG we invited the CFA Volunteers with their trucks and the community to Church. We have a thanksgiving service, put on morning tea and provide a place for the Community to come and to say thanks for the selfless work of the CFA members. We bless the volunteers and their trucks recognising that they are contributing to the “commonwealth” of our community; that they too are part of the Kingdom of God

As the Anglican Church here we have a responsibility not to look after ourselves but primarily,  to provide for the spiritual care of this community. In a society obsessed with wealth creation and individualism, which leaves such an aching wound of loneliness, you are called to bless, affirm and celebrate all that is good. In a society which is primarily driven by “the market”, you are called to advocate for those who are marginalised by it.

This is a place of Transformation where people have ‘near life experiences’ and are regularly released from a life of ‘near death experiences”.

If I think of the new comers in the last 3 years who have visited St Pauls and who have made this their home,  and have been transformed. I think of Henrietta who has found a home and care here,  at a time when her other home has been in turmoil. I think of the trust and transformations that have been experienced  in the Men’s Spirituality Group as it meets fortnightly.  We had one member who said after the weekend away that… he’d..” been to church camps all his life and this was the first one that he wasn’t required  to bring his Bible; and yet it was as though Jesus was present with us,  in a way that I’ve never experienced at a camp before”.

Three years ago when we talked about stewardship Eric Jensen said, I’d love to give more, but I expect that like many others, I’m asset rich but income poor. He said “It struck me that we could encourage people to consider a bequest to St Pauls in their Will when property is sold”. And so we now have a brochure about Bequests and Eric has indicated  that he would be happy to talk to anybody else about Bequests and share his thoughts if you would like.

 These are stories about transformations – of growing to wholeness and seeing things in a new way … that enables us and those around us to live in Hope.

At a Diocesan level, contributing to the parish enables money to be spent in speaking the prophetic and countercultural voice like the  banner on the cathedral which instead of

vilification says, ”Lets welcome Refugees”

Stewardship and giving is not about fundraising so that the church can keep going. It’s about your spiritual survival and the spiritual survival of our community. May God bless us as part of this community in the activity of Transformations and wholeness.

“Do not be afraid… for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”.

A Sermon by The Reverend Susanne Chambers, 4th August, 2013

First Stewardship sermon for 2013

in a series of three.

By The Rev’d Susanne Chambers

4th August, 2013

Luke 12:13-21

Today I will speak in broad terms of our response to money, to each other and to God.

Next week, Jonathan will enlarge on our Mission here at St Paul’s and what finances are needed for us to be financially self-sufficient.

And then the following Sunday the 18^th August, Commitment Sunday we will have a guest speaker: Alison Preston who is the Middle East Program Manager for Anglican Overseas Aid.

I hope you will find each of these Sundays helpful in your reflections and prayers as we each consider our time, talent and our treasures all which come from God.

For those of you who have been fortunate to have lived or visited developing countries, you may like me, find it incredible that the people are so generous with the little they have.

When we first arrived in Malawi, the four of us women were given a single rose and then I, as the priest, was given a bunch of roses.   Roses are not seen very much in Malawi! This was indeed a generous gift to welcome us!

The meals that were provided on the two Sundays after church in our honour, were all the foods one could get in Malawi…at least in Zomba…vegetables, n-seema, chicken, meat and fish. 

Chicken, the meat and fish are becoming too expensive for most to be able to buy.  One night, one of the women was going home for her dinner which was a corn cob.

It wasn’t just the food that was so generously given. Each day, someone had to come and pick us up and drive us home at the end of the day.

This could take up to one hour depending on how busy the village markets were as we passed through.

When greeted, there would be big smiles, a hand ready to take yours in theirs and a genuine delight that we were with them.

To quote just a small portion of a letter from the Mothers’ Union of St Georges’ in Zomba.

“Dear Rev’d Susanne,

We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We write on behalf of all the Christians and more specifically on behalf of the mother’s union guild at St George’s Anglican Church to thank you most sincerely for the visit that you and the other charming ladies, Jennifer, Rose and Lizzie accorded our church.  The Christians at St George looked at the visit as a spiritual revival and wish they did not end here…”

And from the first letter when we arrived “we are therefore very grateful and we will never take this support for granted and please receive our ZIKOMO KWAMBIRI from the sweet and warm hearts of St George’s mothers.”

It is moments like these in life, that being part of a parish community and a worldwide church community show the reason why we are here. We are here not just for ourselves, but for one another and to give thanks to God that this is so.

In today’s gospel what caught my attention was the response Jesus gave to the person in the crowd who wanted Jesus to fix a problem about money.  In broad terms Jesus answered his question. ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

In the parable that Jesus then tells them and in life as well, he basically says: ‘it’s not all about money’.

He warns against greed, about the insatiable feeling of never having enough.  And the parable he tells illustrates this.  The farmer’s problem isn’t that he’s had a great harvest, or that he’s rich, or that he wants to plan for the future. The farmer’s problem is that his good fortune has curved his vision so that everything he sees starts and ends with himself.

Listen again to the conversation he has with, not a spouse or friend or parent or neighbour, but only with himself. “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones and these I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

Do you see what I mean? It is an absolutely egocentric conversation, even including a conversation with himself inside the conversation he is already having with himself!  This is why he is a fool. 

The rich man’s land has produced abundantly, yet he expresses no sense of gratitude to God or to the workers who have helped him plant and harvest this bumper crop.  He has more grain and goods in storage than he could ever hope to use, yet seems to have no thought of sharing it with others, and no thought of what God might require of him.  He is blind to the fact that his life is not his own to secure, that his life belongs to God.

The rich man learns the hard way what the writer of Ecclesiastes realized- quite simply, that you can’t take it with you.  All that we work so hard for in life will end up in someone else’s hands, and as Ecclesiastes puts it, ‘who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet, they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.  This also is vanity.” (2:19)

Like the rich farmer, we are tempted to think that having large amounts of money and possessions stored up will make us secure.  Sooner or later, however, we learn that no amount of wealth or property can secure our lives.  No amount of wealth can protect us from cancer, or from a genetically inherited disease, or from a tragic accident.

No amount of wealth can keep our relationships healthy and our families from falling apart. In fact, wealth and property can easily drive a wedge between family members, as in the case of the brothers fighting over their inheritance at the beginning of this text.

Most importantly, no amount of wealth, can secure our lives with God.  In fact, Jesus repeatedly warns that wealth can get in the way of our relationship with God. 

It is not that God doesn’t want us to save for retirement or future needs.  It is not that God doesn’t want us to eat, drink and be merry and enjoy what God has given us.  We know from the Gospels that Jesus spent time eating and drinking with people and enjoying life.  But he was also clear about where his true security lay.

It is all about priorities.  It is about who is truly God in our lives.  It is about how we invest our lives and the gifts that God has given us.  It is about how our lives are fundamentally aligned: toward ourselves and our passing desires, or toward God and our neighbour, towards God’s mission to bless and redeem the world.

Our lives and possessions are not our own.  They belong to God.  We are merely stewards of them for the time God has given us on this earth.  We rebel against this truth because we want to be in charge of our lives and our stuff.

Archbishop Philip said in last month’s TMA  “we know the importance of money and how we use it as a consumer. The trouble with all of this is that it puts us in a place where it is easy to act as if it is our money, not God’s money that we are dealing with. We are so used to being in the middle of the decision that we naturally ask questions about benefit and most easily answer them from our own perspective.

This fact distorts many of the discussions that Christians have about money.”  Archbishop Philip also said “what we are dealing with (when looking at parish finances) is foremost a gift of God’s generous provisions for us to apply to the work we continue to Jesus’ name.”  TMA July 2013

I wonder if we sometimes forget that all this belongs to God here at St Paul’s. We are merely stewards to care for the spiritual nurture of people through worship and groups that meet here, through the continual maintenance of the buildings, in looking beyond ourselves to other people in our community and the wider community, to continue God’s mission to bless and redeem the world. We are stewards of all of this.

This truth that all belongs to God is good news. Because all that we are and all that we have belong to God, our future is secure beyond all measure. So Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (12:32)

Money isn’t the problem; St Augustine once said that God gave us people to love and things to use, and sin, in short, is the confusion of these two things.

St Paul’s community of faith is a place where we enjoy worshipping God together, we enjoy each other’s company, and we contribute to the needs of the wider community at home and abroad.

This is a great place to be! A place to grow spiritually, to be confronted personally when reflecting on how other’s live in God’s world(like in Malawi) and the challenge also for each of us to radiate the compassion and love of God in all we do and say. None of this is done in isolation…we need community…we need each other.

I give thanks that we all belong to God!      [i]

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Commentary on Luke 12:13-21 by Elizabeth Johnson

And notes from David Lose ‘working preacher’

A Sermon by the Reverend Jonathan Chambers, 30th June, 2013

St Paul’s Canterbury

The Feast of St Peter and St Paul

The Reverend Jonathan Chambers

Patronal Festival 30th June 2013, John 21:15-22

As some will know I provide Supervision for people in ministry- chaplains and parish clergy. As part of my Professional Development I attended a seminar this week, on Ethical Supervision conducted by Elisabeth Shaw, former Managing Director of the NSW branch of Relationships Australia and member of the Ethics Committee of the Australian Psychological Society. Participants were Supervisors of Psychologist, Social Workers as well as Chaplains and Pastoral Carers. Elisabeth posed the question to us . “How would you respond if a supervisee – admitted to you in the course of a supervision session
‘I have a drinking and gambling problem , but it doesn’t effect my work?’”
Or consider this : reading yesterdays Age newspaper there was the description of a social gathering when someone stridently gave support for our government’s treatment of asylum seekers. The writer was affronted and looked to her fiends to support her mild response saying “ well we need to see all points of view”, and was blown away by the fact that her friends who she knew actually agreed with her, after an awkward silence left her high and dry, and politely changed the subject.
What is it that stops us from being brave and speaking up for what we believe in? We may claim its about having good manners, or perhaps from our past the we recall our mother saying, “if you cant say something nice, don’t say anything at all”, but in our heart of hearts we know we should say something and that our silence means consent. By saying nothing – we allow the injustice or potential harm to continue. So what stops us? FEAR …………..its generally about fear – not wanting to be hurt.
Today we celebrate the feast of St Peter and St Paul. You may recall an awkward moment for Peter as he waited by the fire in the courtyard of the High priest’s house in Jerusalem. One of the young women asked if he too was a follower of Jesus. “No I’m not “ says Peter. The story continues where he denies Jesus a total of 3 times, - and he recalls that he had vowed only a few hours before that he would follow him anywhere. It was FEAR that that gripped Peter.- ( ‘Better to be a live Jew that a dead follower of Jesus’!!)
And he went away weeping at his betrayal. Fear causes us not to be the people whom we really are or who we want to be.
Its Fear that keeps us separated. Two Saints who stand out for me are our patron, St Paul and Nelson Mandela. Both were brave enough to overcome their fear of rejection by their own tribe, in order to include those on the margins. And I think it’s interesting that they both had personal experience of exclusion. As I’ve pondered their stories I’ve wondered whether their sense of need for inclusion and justice were born in the crucible of their own pain.
Following his conversion on the road to Damascus Paul was brought to the disciples by Ananias who vouched that he was no longer Saul the Pharisee and Christian killer, but a follower Jesus. The disciples were understandably dubious, but in time came to trust him. Soon after however the Jewish authorities tried to kill him, because he had betrayed their cause. Then there was then the ‘silent period’ as it’s referred to, where Paul returned to his home city of Tarsus for about 10 years. The scriptures don’t tell us what happened, but I expect that in that time he suffered rejection by both Jews and Christians – he was a outcast and I expect it was there he learnt to pray. Ten years is a long time - that’s how long it was before Barnabas hearing how affective he was in preaching for the Christians, finally asked him to come and work with him at the new Gentile congregation in Antioch.
Nelson Mandela spent twenty seven years in prison. To come out, at the fall of the Apartheid regime without resentment and to call for reconciliation rather than retribution demonstrates that something must have changed Mandela’s mind. With all that time and knowing from his biography that he is a Christian, I expect that he too also learnt to pray.
Paul out of his experience of being an outsider, overcame his fear of being unpopular with the Jewish Christians and became the greatest advocate for the Gentile Christians.
Mandela also overcame the fear of being rejected by his anti apartheid colleagues when he proposed the Truth and Reconciliation Tribunals, rather than a war crimes trial, because he knew that social inclusion was better than retribution for the new nation. I expect that it was in prison and in exile in Tarsus which was transformative which led them both to see that love is better than fear.
As I thought of these men’s lives, this week I recalled from many years ago a cartoon and poem by our Australian prophet, Michael Leunig. I couldn’t find a copy of it on his website so I sent him an email
Hi Michael, I'm looking for the cartoon image that accompanied your poem "Love and Fear". I recall a picture of people in a maze with high walls, unable to see or reach each other. The poem and the cartoon are some of the most enduring images which have informed my own spiritual journey as well as my sermons over many years. I'd like to illustrate this Sunday’s sermon with your permission, by providing a copy of the cartoon and poem to those who attend church-. Its an Anglican service so there will be a total of about 100 copies used.! So in summary I'd like to have an image of the cartoon and permission to use it in this way on Sunday. Thanks for your significant contribution to the spiritual life of our country Jonathan.
I wondered if I’d get a reply in time and how much it was going to cost – with copyright considerations etc
His Personal Assistant Nicola replied:
Greetings Jonathan, Thank you for your email. Michael is happy for you to use his work as requested. Please find the image for poem 'Love and Fear' attached. With all good wishes, Nicola
Again I was confronted by a saint and asked- Are we people who guard our rights very tightly or we generous of spirit?
Cartoon is in the pew sheet
So what is it that causes our fear that separates us from others and how can we over come it?
Love and fear / Michael Leunig
There are only two feelings, Love and fear: There are only two languages, Love and fear: There are only two activities, Love and fear: There are only two motives, two procedures, two frameworks, two results, Love and fear, Love and fear.
I think the answer is shown in the encounter in our Gospel today
Peter who, who out of fear ran away after Jesus’ arrest and then denied him 3 times, meets the risen Christ on the tranquil shores of Lake Tiberius.
In this intimate encounter, three times Jesus asks Peter. “Do you love me?”
“Do you love me more than these?”
Why?
Because Jesus knew it was fear of death that had stopped him being true to his knowledge and love of Jesus. He says.
“Do you love me … me than these?
Do you love me more than all others ??
Perhaps the unspoken answer is …”only if I feel safe”.
So how do I know I’m Safe and whether God’s love is enough for me?
Jesus says to Peter 2 things
“Feed my sheep” and “Follow me”
In order to know which are Jesus sheep and to know where to follow Jesus : we must PRAY
How do I know that God loves me?
By Praying, Listening! Becoming comfortable enough with God that you know .
Maybe today is an is an invitation to ask. Do you want to be more like a saint? Do you want to go a bit deeper? How?
Maybe start seeing a Spiritual Director each month. Maybe set time aside every day to spend in conversation with God –( not reciting a list of things that you want God to do), - but telling God how your feeling and listening for God’s response. Maybe you could go on a Retreat.
How many here a have a Spiritual Director? If your comfortable put up your hand.
I guess the question is how serious are you about your faith? What is Jesus asking you to do ?
For some I expect YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT WOULD BE GOOD FOR YOU.
You’ve thought of it before, but its” hard to find the time” . Is this the time ?
Good news is the grace – you don't do it in own strength, don't have to try - it happens. At the same time I expect it wont be easy- as it wasn’t for Paul, or Nelson Mandela. You are likely to have those uncomfortable conversations like the one between Jesus and Peter. Do you really love me??... But its in those conversations where we encounter and learn to trust the risen Lord.
In time, the place of prayer becomes a safe place- so I learn to " “love Jesus more’...... More than anybody… and know that nothing can separate me from that love. Perhaps most importantly, you will also learn to forgive and love yourself.
Knowing I can never be abandoned, I can afford to Live more generously
…..more likely to think and reflect, before I react to an apparent slur or perceived threat from a remark that someone made
Likely to be more resilient about the assaults of another- taking time to put myself in their shoes and understand how their harsh words may have just been a reflection of their own feelings of hurt and FEAR!!!
Jesus’ invitation- "Follow me"
If you respond, your world will change .....forever....I promise.
It’s an Adventure of a lifetime .. ….for eternity
What are you going to do? “Do you love me more than these?”
The Lord be with you

A Sermon by Kate Lord, 23rd June, 2013

Sermon for 23rd June, 2013, the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Galations 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39

In the name of our Trinitarian God. Amen.
Last Sunday afternoon, eleven members of this faith community visited West Heidelberg Mosque. We attended their afternoon prayers, had an opportunity to ask questions, and were treated to an afternoon tea and fellowship. I had never been to a mosque, and was intrigued to observe the way they prayed, and delighted to hear the inclusive theology of this quite liberal Muslim faith community.
During the afternoon tea, I had an opportunity to speak with Nadia, the wife of the imam. She has four adult sons, the youngest of whom was in attendance. She was very keen to engage me in conversation, and to make sure I had plenty to eat and drink.
I hope that that visit has helped those of us who attended to see that Muslims are just the same as us. They are old men who struggle to kneel, and young men whose mobile phones ring during prayers. They are young women with noisy children, and old women caring for their faith community. Once we get to know ‘the other’ as human – created in the image of God, just as we are – it is hard to continue to demonise whole sections of society.
I believe that today’s gospel reading addresses this issue: the way we, as a society, demonise people. It speaks of a man who has been cast out of society because whatever demons he carries around with him make it difficult for the rest of the townsfolk to live with him. It is not just that he does not live in the town, in the company of his fellow human beings. He abides in the place of the dead, denied contact with the living. He has been stripped of his clothes and his dignity. He has been dehumanised.
When Jesus confronts the man and asks the name of the demon, we are told it is “Legion”. It is important that this original name is preserved, and not translated “lots” or “mob” as it is in some Bibles, as the name does not simply refer to the numerical size of the demons oppressing the man.
It is a statement about the nature of the forces oppressing him. They were related to the political climate of the day, one that cared less for the individual than for the state, less for the health of the many than for the wealth of the few – probably not unlike our society today. Whatever the exact issues were, they had dehumanised this man, leaving him naked and vulnerable, without hope for life or love, in the realm of the dead.
But once these forces are named, they can be dealt with. This is a common understanding throughout Scripture – once another’s name is known, power may be exercised over them. Legion is named, and Jesus casts out the many demons. Once he has been set free from the oppression that binds him, the man is found clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. The people of the town, the society that had excluded him from among their number, are afraid now; afraid that the oppression has been named, that a man has been freed, and that ‘Legion’ no longer has power to keep one man down.
How like the people of this town are we in our society?! The ways in which we dehumanise people are many. They are beginning to be named, and it is causing uproar and outrage in public and political spheres.
Misogyny – the dehumanisation of women by demeaning references to their bodies, illegal videos, highly inappropriate questions and statements by high profile figures, and the nomination of men who assault women to political parties.
Racism – including the dehumanisation of asylum seekers by those who would call them ‘illegals’ and insist that our borders need protecting from potential terrorists.
Homophobia – the dehumanisation of gay and lesbian people by churches who use toxic theology to exclude them, denial of the right to marry their life partners by politicians who are can see only as far as the next poll, and a lack of gumption on the part of society to address the soaring rate of youth suicide among young LBGTI people.
Marginalisation – the dehumanisation of those with mental illness, disabled people, children, the elderly, the homeless, Muslims, criminals, and all those who challenge the comfortable status quo and stretch our understanding of ‘neighbour’.
Consumerism – the desire to spend more money to acquire more stuff, without pausing to think what our greed is doing to factory workers in developing countries or to our environment.
These are just some of the demons that possess our society, and which we fear to name. And it is easy to despair that we have any power to change these forces that dehumanise those at whom each one is aimed. So let us turn back to the story of the Gerasene Demoniac and see what the gospel writer has to say to us.
If we understand, as John Dominic Crossan suggests, that the gospels contain, not only parables by Jesus, but also parables about Jesus, then maybe we are meant to hear this story and search for ourselves in it, to ‘have ears to listen’ for the message for us. Let us begin by asking, “Who are we in this story?”
Are we the person who has been excluded from society and dehumanised? Many of us, born in Australia, white, male, educated, and employed, are likely to have not experienced dehumanisation to any great extent. Having spent seven years in the Navy in my youth, I have experienced some degree of victimisation for my gender. It was my own classmates who discussed the girls in our class by saying, “They are not female, they are non-male”, to which the reply came, “They are not even non-male, they are just a Defence Force policy”. And while that was mild compared to other treatment, it hurt deeply because I had thought the female members of my class were respected by our male colleagues.
Are we the society involved in the process of dehumanisation? I suggest that we are. We may not actively discriminate by gender, but we may chuckle at sexist jokes, shrug them off as the boys having a bit of a laugh, or overlook derogatory humour because it would cause a scene to name and confront it?
I have been quite taken this past week by the words of the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, who told his personnel that, “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept”, and that if they become aware of any individual degrading another they are to “show moral courage and take a stand against it”. Each of us is capable of combatting the forces of dehumanisation by taking a stand against victimisation whenever and wherever we see it.
What choices do we make with our Australian dollars about the way workers in developing countries are treated, and about the treatment of our earth? Do we save ourselves money by buying the cheapest clothes around, made in sweat-shops under inhumane conditions? Do we question the makers of our brand-label clothing about the origin of the fabric and the working conditions of those who make each item? Do we read the ingredients on the food we purchase to look for the presence of palm oil? Do we question the manufacturer of our food products about the environmental practices of those producing the palm oil and the ethical treatment of workers picking our coffee and cocoa beans? As a society, we in Australia perpetuate many ills on our planet and its peoples by our insatiable appetite for spending money on the proliferation of stuff available to us.
But we, as Christians, are called to be Christ-like. Like Jesus in this parable, we are called to name the dehumanisation we see around us. Sexism. Misogyny. Racism. Age-ism. Consumerism. Discriminatory political policies. Unethical business practices. Unsustainable manufacturing procedures. Environmentally-damaging energy generation. We who pray each week, “Your kingdom come”; we who wait for the renewal of creation; we who acknowledge that every person is created in the image of God – need to be working with God to make these things a reality with every word we say and every dollar we spend.
Maybe we are also the person with our own humanity restored, asking to follow Jesus. Listen, then, to Jesus’ words to us: “Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you”. Do we do this with any earnestness?
Do we sit with our families and talk about how lucky we are to have been born in Australia? Or to have been born in another country with the means to travel to and live in Australia with the blessing of both countries? Have we imagined what it would be like to be born in a country where our political opinion or our religion put our life and that of every member of your family at risk? Or where lack of clean water and sanitation means the constant threat of disease? Or where civil war and drought combine to bring ongoing famine? Do we declare how much God has done for us?
Do we acknowledge the privilege we have in being educated and employed? Have we considered how different our lives would be if we had been born into a family with multi-generational unemployment, where education was not valued? Or with serious illness or disability that consumed most of the family’s finances? Or where multiple or extended periods of time in the prison system erode our chances of a lucky break? Do we declare how much God has done for us?
I believe that this is a first step towards regaining our own humanity – to acknowledge how precarious is our hold on the health and wealth that we have, and to be grateful for them. When we acknowledge how little control we really have in most areas of life, and how much God has done for us, we take one step closer to becoming fully human.
This is not a difficult task. We can pause before each meal we eat and acknowledge the work of many hands that have contributed to its presentation before us. As we tuck our children or grand-children or ourselves into bed at night, we can say aloud, “Thank you, God, for a comfortable bed in a warm dry house on a cold night”.
Once we develop a habit of gratitude, we are more likely to find ourselves feeling compassion for those who are less fortunate. Once we acknowledge that our position in life is due largely to factors beyond our control, and let go of the pride that insists that we are self-made success stories, we may find that we see other people’s lives through a softer lens.
It is not much of a leap from that space to finding that we actually want to support others who do not have the privilege and the voice to stand up against the world for their own rights. All of us are called to name the forces that dehumanise both ourselves and others. Remember that society will not appreciate this, and may fear the implications. The people of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave the area once he had named and exorcised the Legion of forces that dehumanised one man there.
But called we are, nonetheless, to follow the example of Jesus, knowing that it may lead to our (metaphorical if not literal) death, trusting that death will always lead to new life. In so doing, may we bring about a world in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, nor any discrimination by nationality or religion; neither slave nor free, nor any exploitation of person, plant, animal or earth; neither male nor female, but mutual respect for the image of God we see in each other, a valuing and sharing of the gifts God gives each of us for the common good, and the raising up of our voices as one for the equal dignity of all humanity.
The Lord be with you.

A Sermon by The Reverend Jonathan Chambers, 16th June, 2013

St Paul’s Canterbury

The Revd Jonathan Chambers

16th June 2013, Pentecost 4

Luke 7: 36-8:3

Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus* to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.
39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ 40Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ 41‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii,* and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ 43Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus* said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’
44Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ 48Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ 49But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ 50And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’
Today’s Gospel shows us again the hospitality of God. It’s a story which invites us to look at the health of our church, Australia’s public life as well as our own personal well- being and wholeness.
Jesus is invited to dinner as the home of Simon the Pharisee. While Jesus is reclining at the table, a woman comes behind him and weeps over his feet. To us it seems like a strange, intimate maybe erotic thing to do- particularly when she goes on to let down her hair, dry his feet and then kiss and anoint them with ointment from an alabaster jar. We don’t know her name, but we know she has a reputation of being a sinner. Some suggest that she was a prostitute, but there is no biblical evidence to support that- it could be that those retelling the story over two thousands years – and most would be men, have concluded that ‘sinful women’ , generally are. (I was thinking about gender attitudes- if a man was described as ‘sinful’, its unlikely that we would conclude that he was a prostitute)
This woman is intriguing. Something very significant has just happened in her life. We don’t know what she did, and we don’t know the circumstances of how she was forgiven, but it would be reasonable, given that her attention is directed towards Jesus, that he has had an encounter with her before- which was life changing. So she comes to the dinner forgiven. Her actions suggest that she has been released from a great burden. Her generous response to Jesus is an outpouring of her gratitude and love- for him, but not only for him, but for herself. By her actions she shows the strength of someone who has forgiven herself………… She is happy enough in her own skin and knowledge that she is worthwhile, that she is loved, - she can even go to the house of Simon the Pharisee and risk being criticised.
And Simon does- but not out loud. Luke tells us “…Simon said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner”. So often the condemnation is silent- but just as deadly.
By what was not being said, Jesus knew that Simon was condemning her and so he “names the elephant in the room”. In typical rabbinical style he poses a hypothetical question to Simon who is forced to conclude that the one who is forgiven most would have to be the most grateful.
Simon is saying that, because she us a sinner she should clearly be excluded from our group.
Jesus says look at her, you can see by her actions that she is forgiven(no longer a sinner). You can see that she knows the love of God for herself and her generosity of spirit is demonstrated in the way she has responded so extravagantly to me.
In typical Lucan style we see the triangular pattern in the storytelling. As listeners we expect that Jesus, (who is always on our side), will show compassion and heal the sinful woman. Meantime there is always the “others”, the nay sayers and critics”, who mumble and complain on the sidelines about the sinner or Jesus actions. To our surprise Jesus doesn’t heal her,… - she is already okay - and we are drawn to conclude that it wasn’t the woman who was in need of healing but Simon- and perhaps Jesus is challenging us as the listener, because we didn’t recognise who had the problem.
Jesus demonstrates the generosity of the sinner when compared to the stinginess of the host and shows that love, forgiveness and inclusion is the essence of God’s Good News.
The target of this story were the Jewish Christians of the Lucan community who espoused rigorist criteria for membership of the community and participation in the meals including the Eucharist. It was an invitation for them to think more widely, as it is to us, where we place boundaries …….and about God who has no boundaries and loves all people.
A number of us went the week before last to Federation Square to hear Bishop Gene Robinson, formerly Bishop of New Hampshire in the United States. Bishop Gene, now retired, was in 2003 the first openly gay bishop to be appointed in the Anglican Communion. In 2008 he was invited with all the other bishops of the communion to the Lambeth Conference. However with the threat by many evangelical Anglicans to boycott the conference if he attended, he was uninvited.
Having caused such a furore, I didn’t know what to expect when I went to the seminar for interested clergy at which he spoke on the Wed. However Bishop Gene was generous, joyful and vulnerable as he talked about his life and experience. He was clearly a man who knew God loved him and so he loved and spoke graciously about others, including those who violently oppose him. He doesn’t try to convince people to change their mind about whether homosexuality is a sin, he simply bears witness to the love of God in his life. His book is interesting, and gives an insight into him. (borrow it if you wish)
Bishop John McIntyre, Bishop of Gippsland was part of the panel who participated in the clergy seminar. Bp John has come under great criticism within his own diocese recently for appointing Fr David Head to the parish of Heyfield because he is gay. – and Bp John is certainly coping it.
Bishop Gene was brought to Australia by a group of progressive Baptists. Sadly our own Archbishop did not meet him, did not appear with him in public and withheld the hospitality normally offered to a visiting Bishop which would have allowed him to preach or celebrate the Eucharist in the Diocese of Melbourne.
As I read the news this week and reflected on it, in the light of today’s Gospel, I struck me about how many barriers we erect to exclude “the other”.
Most obvious is our government’s treatment of asylum seekers, who have been demonised by politicians and the public for years now.
Male attitudes about ‘sinful women’ continue to this day as evidenced by another revelation about “Jedi Councils” in the armed forces. Whether we like her or not, I believe Julia Gillard has done us all a favour by naming the misogyny which she has experienced in politics. Like at the home of Simon the Pharisee, the condemnation isn’t necessarily uttered but Julia has clearly felt it. And so she has named the injustice and born witness to her experience, pointing to the Liberal Party fundraising Menus and signs which describe women as witches who should be ditched, as well as having to endure questions about whether her partner is gay because he is a hairdresser.
Richard Rohr helpfully said in his mediation this week
Those at the edge of any system and those excluded from any system ironically and invariably hold the secret for the conversion and wholeness of that very group. They always hold the feared, rejected, and denied parts of the group’s soul.
…… Jesus was not just a theological genius, but he was also a psychological and sociological genius. When any church defines itself by exclusion of anybody, it is always wrong. It is avoiding its only vocation, which is to be the Christ. …
Only as the People of God receive the stranger, the sinner, and the immigrant, those who don’t play our game our way, do we discover not only the hidden, feared, and hated parts of our own souls, but the fullness of Jesus himself. We need them for our own conversion.
Let me finish with a story which Bp Gene told.
During WWII in France, 4 serviceman developed a strong bond of friendship with each other as they withstood the agonies and triumphs of war together . One was tragically killed and his three friends carried him some distance to the church in the nearby village where they called on the priest. They asked if they could bury their friend in the graveyard. The priest asked if he was baptised. They replied that they didn’t think he was. To which the priest replied that he regretted that then he couldn’t be buried in the graveyard. The men were clearly distressed by this news .. and so the priest suggested that there was a nice field, with a great view next to the graveyard and that perhaps they could bury their companion there. So the men, because they had little choice chose to do that and placed a simple wooden cross on the spot to mark the grave.
After the war the 3 men returned to village, wanting to arrange for a proper headstone to place over the grave of their friend. They returned to the field and to their dismay found the grave had gone and there appeared to be no evidence of where it had been. They went looking for the priest, and asked if he remembered them. They told him that they couldn’t find the grave and did he have any idea what may have happened to the body of their friend. The priest said he did remember their visit very well ….and went on to tell them how after they departed that he was very troubled about his strict and strident ruling about whether their friend could be included in the graveyard. He said he prayed about it …………….and said that he had moved the fence.
In this story Jesus invited Simon to move the fence
When we move the fence we are the Christ. When we welcome the outsider we heal ourselves and encounter Jesus………..as the woman did
The Lord be with you.

A Sermon by Bishop Barbara Darling, 9th June, 2013

St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Canterbury

Sermon by Bishop Barbara Darling

Sunday 9th June, 2013

Reading: Galatians 1: 11-24 Encountering Christ – Paul & Columba

O God, help us to listen to your Word with attention and understanding, to receive it with faith, and to obey it with courage; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It’s good to be back with you on an official visit – though I also enjoy coming here on the rare occasions when I am not going to one of the 66 other parishes in this Region. It was lovely to be dressed in red and join you recently on Pentecost Sunday, still rather jet lagged from my trip overseas and still officially on Long Service Leave. And now it is the turn of your vicar Susanne and for Jenifer, Liz and Ros to be experiencing the delights and the challenges of overseas travel – of being in one country one day and in another entirely different culture and group of circumstances on the next day.
By the time I finished my five weeks travelling in Great Britain, Spring was well and truly sprung – vibrant light green leaves growing and darkening; daffodils blooming both in formal gardens and randomly in fields; beautifully coloured tulips; and on our last few days, wild bluebells abundantly in the woods – all beautiful sights with the lengthening days. Back here to the last remnants of the glorious autumn colours on the trees and all over our footpaths and gardens; and very much shortened days, cold and dark. For our travellers I imagine it will be coping with much warmer days in Malawi in Africa. They like me will be encountering change and the need to adapt to time zones, cultures, food, laundry facilities and various other challenges, and to come back in some ways changed and enriched by their experiences.
Paul, in our Epistle for today from Galatians chapter 1, delights in talking about how his life was transformed by his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Instead of being a hater of Christians, wanting to put them in prison, he became a Christian himself and his life was transformed, spending the rest of his life encouraging others to become followers of Christ and to have their lives changed too.
He realised this was not of his own doing, but only through the grace of God who encountered him and transformed his life. He realised that this experience was to lead him to share the Gospel with Gentiles and not like the other disciples with mainly Jewish people. He did not go and seek out Peter and John and the other apostles, but tells us here that he went off alone, presumably to be with God and to grow as a Christian. He did spend a fortnight in Jerusalem after three years with Cephas, or Peter, and James, the brother of our Lord, but was still mostly by himself. He then goes on to tell us that he waited another 14 years before going back to Jerusalem. Here he was willing to challenge Peter, or Cephas, for not acting consistently with the Gospel by stopping eating with Gentiles and becoming enslaved to the law again. Paul, through all his letters and teaching, strongly encourages believers to live by grace and not by the law, and to remember we are justified by faith and not by work. Paul was totally committed to living by faith and showing others his faith and belief in Jesus as THE way to the Father.
He would have delighted in telling stories like the Gospel reading we have for today from Luke chapter 7, where the widow of Nain was so distressed at the death of her precious son – having lost her husband, she had now lost not only her son, but the hope for her livelihood in the future, in the days when social security was unheard of.
Jesus, on this occasion as in many other times in the Gospels, is filled with compassion for the situation she is in and the grief she must be experiencing – and so acts with authority in a way that amazed her and those supporting her. He dared first of all to touch the funeral bier, which would have made him unclean, and then to command the young man to rise – and he did! Imagine the joy and the surprise for his mother, for their friends, and for the young man himself! I imagine his life was changed from that moment on as he sought to find out who this man was who had done such a wonderful deed and given him a new lease of life.
Today, as well as being the third Sunday after Pentecost, is 9 June, which in our church calendar is the day when we remember St. Columba. I am delighted to remember him today and share a little about him with you, as I have just come back from my second stay on the amazing island of Iona, a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland, near the large island of Mull. To get to the island is a pilgrimage in itself. I travelled first to Ireland with Felicity, one of my friends from Sydney – who has worshipped here once. After two exciting weeks there, we travelled by boat from Belfast in Northern Ireland to Cairnryan, by coach to Ayr, then by train to Glasgow. After staying there overnight, we hired a car and travelled north along the shores of Loch Lomond, then west and south to the coastal town of Oban. From there we left our car at the B&B where we had stayed, and travelled by boat to Mull, then in a coach along amazing one way roads (with occasional turn outs for cars to get past) and then on another little ferry across the small stretch of water to Iona. We stayed at the Bishop’s House with 20 or so other people from Scotland and England, and joined in the worship there and then in the ancient Iona Abbey where the Iona Community leads worship daily. People come from all over the world to be part of this community and their worship and to have a special time of being very close to God, using often the songs of the Wild Goose Group led by John Bell – many of these are in our Together in Song Hymn book. They are often set to simple traditional Scottish folk tunes and like the worship are praising God as creator and are very down to earth.
Iona is so special because it was here in the sixth century that Columba sailed from Ireland with twelve men, in a little coracle or fishing boat, to bring Christianity to the people of Scotland who had not as yet heard about Jesus. Columba was born about 521 in County Donegal in Ireland. He was sent to several different schools, all run by monks, and finished his studies when an outbreak of plague closed his school down. He then spent 15 years touring Northern Ireland where he preached the Gospel – like Paul – and founded various monasteries, including at Kells and Derry. However, he became embroiled in a dispute regarding copyright with a manuscript. This led unfortunately to a war which killed some 3000 people. In order to make up for this, he vowed to leave Ireland and try to convert as many people – that is, about 3,000 – to become Christians. It is said that he chose to live on Iona because he could not see his homeland from its shores. It was an amazing experience when at Iona the first time I visited in 1994, we walked across the island to St. Columba’s bay and imagined Columba and his helpers arriving at that rather desolate beach in the year 563, and remaining based there for the rest of his life – another 34 years.
Here on Iona, Columba built a monastery and developed an ordered life of prayer, work and study. This became a model for other Celtic monasteries. The monks lived totally for God, prayed frequently and offered hospitality, centring their conversations on God and the scriptures, owning no luxuries, eating only when hungry and sleeping only when tired. Many were involved in manual labour and in farming and fishing, but those more senior led the worship and studies and copied the scriptures. Bede, a historian writing in the 8th century, said that the Iona community was characterised by “their purity of life, love of God and loyalty to the monastic rule”.
The community grew and so did its influence. Kings and princes sought Columba for advice and counsel, and the sons of royalty and nobility were sent to Iona for education in the scriptures and the arts. Columba and his monks travelled widely, spreading the Christian message and establishing churches and monasteries.
By the time Columba died he had helped lead Scotland into a time of peace. However, this was not to last as Iona and many similar communities were ravaged by the Viking invaders. Columba died in 597 AD, the year that St. Augustine arrived further south in Canterbury, England. And so Celtic Christianity came to Scotland and later on to England, when one of his followers, Aidan, took Christianity across to Lindisfarne or the Holy Island – another place I visited back in 1994, with a great sense of God’s presence and generations of men and women living lives totally for God.
Iona was attacked by the Vikings but the Benedictine monks set up another stone abbey there in the 13th century to replace the earlier wood and stone buildings built by Columba and his companions in 563. The abbey today has been repaired and renovated and is still a focal point for prayer and a sense of God’s presence both now and over the centuries.
One of his close friends wrote Columba’s biography and he described Columba as someone who never let a single hour pass without prayer. He said: “To all he appeared loving, serene and holy, rejoicing in the joy of the Holy Spirit.” His name in Gaelic means Dove – a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Another symbol used by Columba and others was that of the wild goose, a Celtic image of the Holy Spirit.
When there I purchased some little cards to bring home and one describes the symbolism of the Wild Goose. It says (quoting from the back of the card):
The Wild Goose is a Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit and serves as the logo of the Iona community. Geese in flock have seventy per cent greater range than a single goose on its own; geese in formation fly seventy five per cent faster than single geese. Iona, down through the centuries, speaks to us above all about the experience of the Holy Spirit in community. The islanders who have always had to be dependent on each other, the Celtic monks, the Benedictines, and the present day Iona community have all learned about the need and strength of sharing. Christianity is a community of faith.
Today we give thanks for Paul, who encouraged, taught and where necessary rebuked those whom he had led to Christ. We thank God also for Columba, who was determined to make up for the terrible death of people in a dispute regarding copyright and wanted to share the Gospel and the teaching of the Scriptures with many. He and his monks were able to do this over the next centuries and made a profound impact on Scotland and northern England.
What does this mean for us today – as Susanne and friends travel to Malawi, as others head north for the winter months, as some go to the Holy Land, as others go to Wilson’s Prom or The Great Ocean Road – or Mt. Hotham – places where we can see the grandeur and glory of God’s creation.
We all have decisions to make like Paul and Columba… Will we be obedient to God’s call? Are we being called to a religious community, to be a missionary overseas, or to ordained ministry, or to helping others learn how to sew, or some other ministry here in this church? How can we show Christian love and compassion to others in our work or daily interactions with people?
We with Paul and Columba need to work out our priorities – what we are searching for in our lives, where we are going on our journeys, as some get older and frailer, some cope with sickness or with caring with others who are sick or elderly, or as we cope with various life decisions – what career, what interests to pursue, what person to share my life with, how involved to be in church. We can all be challenged like Paul and Columba to put God first, to spend time with God in prayer, in solitude, in growing in Christian knowledge and wisdom, in loving and caring for others, and in being God’s people in God’s world.
Columba has challenged me, by his devotion to God, his willingness to step out into the unknown and to lead and help others in their Christian growth. He has encouraged me by his openness to God’s leading, his simple lifestyle, and his positive influence on so many others. I pray that you, too, may be encouraged and challenged to look at your priorities and your expectation of God and of yourself, as we seek in the words of Jesus to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. May St. Paul and St. Columba, in their faithfulness and love, inspire and encourage us this week as we reflect, relate and interact with God and with those around us – whether here, in Arica, or wherever we may be.
I would like to close with a short prayer by Columba in a tiny book I bought while on Iona. The book is called Through the Year with St. Columba:
Let us pray:
Christ is the world’s Redeemer,
The lover of the pure,
The fount of heavenly wisdom,
Our trust and hope secure;
The armour of his soldiers,
The Lord of earth and sky;
Our health while we are living,
Our life when we die. Amen