Rev elations

‘He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him’. Corporately and individually humans persistently and consistently reject God. We are pretty good at choosing what is bad for us- being tempted by any number of false desires. We can become addicted to all sorts of bad behaviours, like alcohol, social media, pornography or self-hatred. The simple ways that we choose to spend our time every day determine the sort of people that we become; the minor details of our lives matter to God – he has given us each moment of every day. As a modern poet, Malcolm Guite puts it: O king of our desire whom we despise, King of the nations never on the throne, Unfound foundation, cast-off cornerstone, Rejected joiner, making many one Take the Biblical tale of the rich man at his gate. He ignores the daily pleas of the poor and sickly man, Lazarus, and after a life of selfi...

Many of us do something, not because we make a choice everyday to do it, but because it’s become part and parcel of our lives, one of the things that we do. Church going can be like that, but then Advent turns up in the church year to unsettle and challenge us; to wake us up and out of our routines into some serious re-engagement with the fundamentals of our existence. Advent reminds us that all this ritual, prayer and worship isn’t just a routine that we’ve gotten used to and quite enjoy, but actually is about our eternal destiny and about the things that matter most: truth versus darkness; goodness versus evil; judgment and end times. Wake up we are told, be watchful, get ready, be alert! Jesus might have left but He will come back; the things that you have been taught and promised are realities; God is not some dream that was imagined a good long time ago; the search for truth, the work of goodness is real. John the Baptist is a serious prophet – not one to allow us to fall...

This week has been one full of the conflicts and tensions of o ur contemporary world, for example: the continuing aftermath of the Paris shootings and the war in Syria; the re-occurrence of Black Friday; the Lord’s Prayer advert ban; more child sex-abuse investigations and further revelations about racism in the police force not to mention the upcoming climate summit in Paris.   All of these complex problems define our contemporary world – how we respond to them as faithful Christians is a matter of debate and concern. Take the Lord’s Prayer advert-ban – questions have rightly been raised about its impact upon the right to freedom of religious expression.  It also reflects the way that religion and prayer has become highly politicised – which isn’t just about a secular, political-correctness.  We are faced with jihadist terrorism, which uses Islam for its own violent ends. Should we then bomb Syria ? What of Syrian refugees and the radicalisation that happens in the UK...

Our reading from Matthew (11:20-end) today begins with Jesus’ strong chastisement of what are called ‘the unrepentant cities’: Chorazin and Bethsaida as well as Capernaum . His words directly relate to the previous passages in which Jesus praises John the Baptist and expresses his frustration at the way the people speak about both him and John; verses 11. 18-19 ‘for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon; the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say ‘look a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’ Jesus’ strong criticism of those who reject both him and John the Baptist is in stark contrast to the second half of our reading in which Jesus prays a prayer of thanksgiving to his Father. In it he praises his Father that his wisdom and truth is revealed to infants; and then Jesus makes a call to those who are weighed down with burdens, offering them an alternative way of life, a way whi...

Did anyone see the Go-between on the BBC last weekend? It is a novel written by L.P. Hartley, in which a 13 year old boy becomes the go-between or messenger for two young lovers. The lovers, who belong to different social classes cannot openly meet, communicate or marry.   The ‘Go-between’ exploits the idea or theme of the innocent messenger, for Leo the young boy, becomes caught up in an affair he doesn’t understand: he is used by the two desperate parties, who exploit his ignorance and willingness to please. He gets too close to their fire and gets burnt. The story reminds us of the dangers of being a messenger. Yet, the Bible is littered with God’s messengers or 'Go-betweens'. How do they fare in contrast to Leo, the child-messenger? Moses is one of the archetypal 'go-betweens' in the Bible - mediating Yahweh’s message to His people, the Israelites. For Moses, the delivery of the message and the negotiation with both the giver of the messages and the receive...

After the Bank Holiday weekend last August, we arrived home as a family from the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival, to a front garden (and more specifically a front garden hedge) that had been pruned, somewhat enthusiastically, by some helpful parishioners! We were, to say the least, a little taken aback. Where were our beautiful rosehips and our hedge that provided some privacy from the neighbouring cars and residents? All gone!! This summer the beautiful rosehips have flowered again magnificently, thanks to the pruning; but it took us some time to get used to them not being there. It is always hard to cope with things being cut back and things being taken away: what we focus on is what we are losing. But what we need to have eyes to see is- what will be, what will grow in its place. Jesus often used horticultural imagery to describe the kingdom of heaven and in St John’s Gospel, the extended imagery of God as the vine grower is utilised: ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is th...

In the readings for Sunday 13th Sept 2015 (see below) we are encouraged to seek wisdom. In the New Testament, the suffering of the cross is presented as a new kind of wisdom, which centuries of Christians and theologians have tried to understand. Some time ago, St Francis for example, said that he felt called to be ‘ a new kind of fool in the world’ and that ‘ God does not want to lead us by any other knowledge than that’ . St Paul similarly talks of Christ crucified: ‘ a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,   but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.   For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength’ (1 Corinthians 1 23-25). How do we interpret the suffering of the cross as wisdom for today? If we are to take Jesus’ teaching and his action seriously, then we have to understand that the wisdom of the cross is all about letting go – and that i...