Rev elations

Women in Kabul, Afghanistan I would like to begin by telling you the story of an Afghan teenage girl called Rahila Muska, which I read in Mark Oakley’s book  A Splash of Poetry .  Her story starts with a poem -a form of Afghan poetry called ‘Landay’.    Landay is an ancient, anonymous and oral form of folk poetry, written in couplets, mainly by and for illiterate Pashtun women on the Afghanistan and Pakistan border.  This is the Landay that starts our story: I call. You’re stone. One day you’ll look and find I’m gone. Rahila, the heroine of our story, lived in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold. Her father had taken her out of school for fear of the Taliban, as they saw the education of women as dishonourable; and it left her vulnerable to attack- kidnap or rape. Rahila found some consolation in poetry; Rahila loved Landay and she was a frequent caller to a radio programme, a chatline run by a women’s literary group, to which women would call a...

The Feast of the Transfiguration, 6th August 2018 In the story of the Transfiguration we are told that Jesus goes up a mountain to pray, taking Peter, John and James with him. On the mountain his face is changed , and his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah are seen talking to Jesus and the voice of God declares: ‘This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him’. (cf. Luke 9:28-36) As Christians we live our lives meditating on the story of Jesus; one way to enter that story is to seek to see his face . Jesus’ face, unknown as it is to us, is also deeply familiar. The subject of icons, iconography and religious paintings. We know Jesus, for instance, as the baby in his mother’s arms, as the child teaching in the temple, as a man being baptised, facing temptation in the desert, as the servant washing his disciples’ feet, blessing bread, in Gethsemane, on the Cross, greeting Mary Magdalene as the Risen Christ and ascending into Glory. Devotion to the face of Jesus a...

It’s of course something of a cliché to remind ourselves that certainly up until the present times, history has been narrated by men. Women’s stories have, generally, been domestic ones and only the most radical and historic have been remembered; still less have any stories been narrated by women. This is as true of the Biblical narrative as it is of any other. The sentences that we have just heard from Luke’s Gospel remind us of this*.  'Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.  The twelve were with him,   as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.' The 12 male apostles have a prominent place in the Christian faith and imagination, whilst the women are mainly...

Abraham and the three angels Rembrandt, 1646 See Genesis 18 O ne of the significant characteristics of early Christianity was that it was a religion that sought converts. It was a religion on the move.  Christianity, in the hands of Paul, was a religion for all peoples and Paul saw his ministry as being an Apostle to the Gentiles . If we take a look at the passage, below, from the Acts of the Apostles , we see this movement and spread of Christianity in action. Paul and others are on the move and arrive in Malta. What can we learn about Christianity from their experiences? 1.        Christians wish to share their faith with others who know nothing about it 2.       That inner ethic of Christianity leads Christians into unknown places 3.       That drive to communicate means that Christians are often strangers and guests 4.       As a stranger or guest, the Christian i...

Thorn in the Flesh     St Paul has written so much of the New Testament (and in letter form) that we have an in-depth psychological profile of him- unlike anything else we have for any other New Testament character. In this particular section of his letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12.2-10) we encounter something of Paul’s paradoxical experience as a follower of Christ. On the one hand, Paul has experienced the most extraordinary revelations – he talks of being caught up in Paradise; whilst at the same time this reason for boasting is balanced by what he calls ‘a thorn in the flesh’. There has been endless speculation about what this thorn in the flesh might be, from those who say it is a physical infirmity, his endless persecutions, his poor speech or a sexual temptation. Nobody can possibly know. But what can be known is that his experience of this persistent pain, irritation and torment is interpreted spiritually. Paul writes that he asked the Lord...

Giving Generously? In the Second Letter to the Corinthians Chapter 8 Paul writes about obedience to the Gospel in relation to generous giving. He is obviously having a difficult time persuading the Corinthians to stay true to their initial desire of making a gift-offering to the poorer Christians in Jerusalem. So, how does he go about persuading them of their responsibility? Paul emphasizes to them the importance of Christian generosity through the principles of: ·         Gift ·         Grace ·         Thanksgiving Paul is at pains to emphasise that he cannot and would not compel or command the Corinthians to give to the Jerusalem Christians: ‘ I do not say this as a command’ . It is essential that Christian giving is never seen as a payment – it is always gift . In our society and theirs, no doubt, payment for goods and services was the norm. Giving freely to...

Ford Maddox Brown Jesus washes Peter's feet https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_washing_Peter%27s_feet.jpg In today’s culture in the West there is intense fascination with leadership studies. Businesses and organisations invest millions in identifying and training leaders. At the same time the rewards and pitfalls for leaders seem more extreme than ever before. Leaders in the public eye face hostility and adulation in equal measure; leaders are like marmite. Just think for a moment of the leaders you loathe and the ones you love! More than ever, today, we are in need of leaders who can enable positive transformation in the communities that we live. What would that sort of leadership look like? Jesus offers a particular form of leadership when he washes his disciples' feet the night before he dies (John 13:1-15). As teacher and ‘Lord’, i.e. one with authority, status and power he deliberately humbles himself to serve those whom he leads. He gets a...