Sunday Reflections – Page 8

Proper 23, 20th Sunday after Trinity

13th October 2024

‘Seek the Lord and live’, ‘Seek good and not evil, that you may live’ and ‘teach us to number our days – ie to live that we may apply our hearts to wisdom’

‘The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword … it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

Life – a good life – is the life we live embracing God’s wisdom, adhering to God’s word. This is the message of our readings today. Oh that we would adhere to them!

Yet it is not just as individuals that we must so act, but as communities, as nations, and as the whole living world. If someone mistreats the poor, not only do the poor suffer but ultimately everyone in the community suffers. This is why Amos talks of people not living in the house they have built or enjoying the harvest of what they have grown. This is why the psalmist speaks of God’s people in the plural. And this is why we see suffering in the world today whether it is the civil war in Sudan, the escalating violence in the Middle East, the floods many parts of the world from Bosnia to Florida to Bangladesh, or the rioting in this country. The growing gap between rich and poor which is a result of injustice and inequality, the exploitation of the Earth’s resources where we take more than can be sustained, mean that ultimately we all suffer.

Nevertheless as individuals can we ever say ‘I have done enough, I have done as much as is necessary’?

Being faithful means continuing always to strive to do good, to do what is God’s will – but not seek a reward but through love. In today’s gospel the young man is focused rewards rather than love. He is motivated by what he hopes to gain. Jesus shows him that this motivation is always going to hit a brick wall, whereas if he can find his way through the love of God, then he will find himself already in God’s Kingdom.

And God’s love will tell us to rest and pause, will tell us not to burn ourselves out. God’s love will tell us to support one another, to ensure that our sisters and brothers don’t overwork, don’t over fixate, don’t think that they can solves all the world’s problems – for only God can do that!

Amos 5:6-7,10-15

Seek the Lord and live,
or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.

Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,
and bring righteousness to the ground!

They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,

you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;

you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your transgressions,
and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
and push aside the needy in the gate.

Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time;
for it is an evil time.

Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;

and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.

Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;

it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Psalm 90:12-17

12 So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *
be gracious to your servants.

14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity.

16 Show your servants your works *
and your splendour to their children.

17 May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands;
prosper our handiwork.

Hebrews 4:12-16

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Mark 10:17-31

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Proper 22, 19th Sunday after Trinity

6th October 2024

Reflection with readings below

What is the role of humans, of men and women? For what purpose have we been created? What is our role, our calling, towards each other, and towards other creatures?

The writings of Genesis tell us that all creatures including humans were created to protect and tend the earth – and in particular to protect and tend the Garden of Eden planted by God. In this task we – humans and creatures – have been created to help each other to live and work in harmony, fulfilling the will of God. That is the purpose for which we have been created.

Humans were created by God as male and female, men and women, to be partners – partners who will love and support each other so closely and intimately that they be comes as two halves of one.

Psalm 8 looks at the vastness of the cosmos in all its glory and majesty, complexity and beauty, and asks what is a mere human in comparison? And yet says the Psalmist we are most highly, indeed supremely valued and treasured by God! Further the Psalmist describes how God has placed the creatures of the field, of the air and of the seas, under our feet – but for what purpose? To celebrate the glory and majesty of God’s name!

So humans have been created both to protect and tend the earth in partnership with all other creatures, and to praise God’s name through our relationship with those creatures.

The writer of Hebrews also takes note of the glory and majesty that is attached to God – indeed the writer quotes from Psalm 8 – and sees that glory and majesty reflected in Christ. And that the reflection of God’s glory and majesty reveals that creation is sustained through the power of his works.

This leads the writer of Hebrews to suggest that the Psalmist’s words refer not to all humans but to that unique human in whom all things are made perfect. Look around, the state of the world where it is subjected to the dominion of most humans is a not a place of perfection. But where it is subject to the dominion of Jesus Christ, a different story can be told. And indeed when we talk of the salvation of the world – its healing and restoration – we are anticipating that state of being that will exist when the power and glory of Jesus has been fully established here on earth. And that is the salvation that makes us as brothers and sisters of Christ and so thus the Psalmist will not be wrong in describing humans as crowned with God’s glory and honour.

The final paragraph from today’s gospel tells us what we should be like as humans. Rather than being self important, wanting to be in charge, wanting to be seen as the person with power, we should be child-like – accepting our dependency on God our parent, looking with awe and wonder at the world around us, sharing joy, being open to new ideas. To be child-like is to be as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden – enjoying being part of creation rather than attempting to over-ride it, to live within the earth’s boundaries.

Genesis 2:18-24

The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.”

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,

all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?

You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour,
subjecting all things under their feet.”

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

Mark 10:2-16

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Feast of St Michael and All Angels

29th September 2024

Reflection with readings following on below

The Lord’s Prayer proposes that God’s will, God’s rule, should prevail on earth as in heaven. In other words the authority, the pattern of behaviour, that relates to heaven, should also relate to earth in the same way.

Today’s extract from the Book of Revelation tells a story – maybe a parable – of Satan and his angelic ilk who having gone against God’s will, are thrown out of heaven. Is the implication that likewise any spirit on earth that opposes God’s should be thrown out? Certainly we have many healing stories where Jesus does just that: unclean spirits that go against God’s will are thrown or drawn out of those possessed by them. Just as in heaven there is no space for evil spirits or dispositions that oppose God’s will; so there will be no space for them on earth. Where such opposition to God exists, there is both a need for, and the option for, healing.

Heaven and earth are not separated. They are not dis or un-connected realms. Both the passage from Genesis and from John’s Gospel, tell of the interconnectedness of heaven and earth. Both use the image of a ladder with angelic messengers to describe the flow of communication between heaven and earth. It is a flow of communication that is now ongoing through Jesus Christ.

If heaven and earth are not separate but interconnected, and if God intends that the divine rule and way of being should prevail in both domains, and if God has established a means of communication between the two – and with Jesus we have the most perfect means of communication – then we should be able to live and work as if God’s rule did apply on earth just as in heaven. But clearly it is something we do have to struggle for, whether we see ourselves following the example of St Michael who stands up for what is right, or the example of Jacob (who is constantly struggling with himself to do the right thing), or if we follow the way of Jesus and share the load of his cross.

So may God bless us with the knowledge that Heaven and earth are not separate but interconnect realms where God’s love and mercy abound.

Genesis 28:10-17

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Psalm 103:19-22

19 The Lord has set his throne in heaven, *
and his kingship has dominion over all.

20 Bless the Lord, you angels of his,
you mighty ones who do his bidding, *
and hearken to the voice of his word.

21 Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, *
you ministers of his who do his will.

22 Bless the Lord, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion; *
bless the Lord, O my soul.

Revelation 12:7-12

War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,

for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.

But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”

John 1:47-51

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Proper 20, 17th Sunday after Trinity

Reflection with readings below

In recent weeks we have been reminded again and again that there is wisdom that comes from ‘above’ – Godly wisdom – and wisdom that has a base origin – ‘worldly wisdom’. The latter is what drives stock markets and banker’s bonuses, that exploits workers and despoils the earth. The former seeks to honour God and love our neighbours – both human and creaturely. The former encourages us to care for, and be cared for, by each other; to be as children, trusting and open, understanding our dependence on God.

Jeremiah suggests the example of being like lambs, or like fruit trees. And drawing on Jesus’s own parable about fruit trees, the implication of the latter being that we should bear a rich harvest in response to God’s tending.

This time of year when we celebrate creation-tide and – for those of us in the northern hemisphere – harvest, so the call to be fruitful is particularly apt. Being fruitful is about flourishing. In the second story of creation in Genesis, God sees an earth that is bare and void of life and desires to see it becoming a verdant garden teaming with life. To this end, God provides water, trees and plants, and beings to till and safeguard all that is growing. That I believe is still God’s desire. We – together with all the other creaturely beings that God created as helpers – have a calling to tend and care for the earth and its flourishing. We are called to tend the plants and trees, the soil and waters, and to care for each other – birds and animals, insects and waterlife as well as our fellow human beings where ever they live across the world.

To do that is to draw upon the wisdom from above – God’s wisdom.

In the letter of James we read: “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” And “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

And in Mark’s gospel we hear Jesus telling us: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” That is not the wisdom of the world. That is not about huge pay deals and share dividends; that is not about spending £1000s on new clothes; that is not about exploiting oilfields leading to extreme weather events that will cause devastation to those most vulnerable; that is not about seeking huge subsidies so that profits will not be diminished by costs. Nor is it about the 14,000 plus children killed in Gaza, nor the 4.3 million of children growing up in poverty in the UK.

Until we live by the wisdom that comes from above rather than by the wisdom of the world, such grief and suffering is going to continue. Until we can truly live out the command to love our neighbour as ourself, we are going to struggle to follow the example Jesus gave us. Until we become like children recognising our dependency on God, our need to learn from God’s wisdom, we are not going to be able to address these woes for we will constantly find ourselves coming up against the uncompromising negative impact of worldly wisdom – the wisdom that always puts self first.

Let us once again affirm our desire and intention to be live our lives as followers of Jesus.

Jeremiah 11:18-20

It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.

But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.

And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!”

But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,

let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.

Psalm 54

1 Save me, O God, by your Name; *
in your might, defend my cause.

2 Hear my prayer, O God; *
give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For the arrogant have risen up against me,
and the ruthless have sought my life, *
those who have no regard for God.

4 Behold, God is my helper; *
it is the Lord who sustains my life.

5 Render evil to those who spy on me; *
in your faithfulness, destroy them.

6 I will offer you a freewill sacrifice *
and praise your Name, O Lord, for it is good.

7 For you have rescued me from every trouble, *
and my eye has seen the ruin of my foes.

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Mark 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Proper 19, 16th Sunday after Trinity

15th September 2024

Being a follower of Jesus today’s gospel tells us, is not a cake walk. It involves carrying a cross – the burden or consequences of following the ways of Jesus, of loving and loving one’s neighbour without reservation – rather than the ways of the ‘world’ where profit and personal success are the objectives.

Likewise being a prophet – the one who hears and passes on God’s words of wisdom – is never easy. Likewise it is not easy to be one of God’s teachers. Nor is it easy to be a climate activist.

When we are called by God, we are called not just to talk the talk, but to walk the talk. That’s what Jesus did – and it took him to the cross.

Although the world is God’s creation, it is a creation that has been given the freedom to pursue both, and/ or, good and evil. Until the point at which God’s rule – God’s kingdom – is fully accepted and acted upon by all, we are living in a world in which bad things happen – and that might be because of someone’s deliberate wrong doing or it could be because the systems within which we live are flawed.

We can talk the talk – explaining how things should be in a perfect world – in the world of God’s kingdom – but walking that talk is not so easy. We are going to come up against the obstacles and hard places caused by individual or systemic wrong doing. Battling against this, going against the easy option of following the crowd, means we end up carrying a cross too.

Yet if we didn’t go against the flow, if we didn’t stand up to do what’s right, things would never change. So we stand outside places of power – the offices of oil companies, the offices of those who insure fossil fuels, outside the Houses of Parliament, outside cathedrals – telling the truth and calling for integrity and justice. So we take the train and the bus and not the ‘cheaper’ speedier plane. We take the single vegan option. We stand up and campaign for the small islands of the Pacific soon to disappear under the sea. We protest outside oil plants, block garages, and walk slowly down roads calling for an end to the injustice that allows fossil fuels to devastate the climate for everyone.

I think what makes it hard is that only a minority walk this walk, so we are constantly going against the stream. We are seen as eccentric or mad – or even bad. At times it can feel hopeless or pointless: will the changes that need to happen in the world, happen in our lifetime or indeed, in time to avert the worst of the devastation the world is facing.

What keeps us going? God’s love and mercy. The example Jesus has set. The strengthening power of the Spirit. The fellowship of other Christians. Yesterday I was part of a small pilgrimage with a couple of others and we walked and talked and listened and prayed. Time out to enjoy the beauty of creation, to be with God and neighbour.

Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens–
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.

The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.

It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 116:1-8

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

2 The cords of death entangled me;
the grip of the grave took hold of me; *
I came to grief and sorrow.

3 Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *
“O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”

4 Gracious is the Lord and righteous; *
our God is full of compassion.

5 The Lord watches over the innocent; *
I was brought very low, and he helped me.

6 Turn again to your rest, O my soul, *
for the Lord has treated you well.

7 For you have rescued my life from death, *
my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.

8 I will walk in the presence of the Lord *
in the land of the living.

James 3:1-12

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue– a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 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.”

Proper 18, 15th Sunday after Trinity

8th September 2024

Reflection – readings follow on after

The writer of the Letter of James calls the command to ‘love our neighbour’ a royal law! And it is a law that must be applied equally to all our neighbours, whatever their status or position in society. To keep this law, we must be different from the newspaper and media world. In those worlds it is the rich and famous who make the headlines. Owners of rich yachts who drown are newsworthy; migrants who drown by the dozen every week, are not newsworthy. They don’t even have names.

To love our neighbour, the writer expands, has to be more than just praying for their well being. It has to be about meeting their actual physical needs. When we pray for the hungry or the homeless, our prayer needs to be backed with a donation to a relevant charity, or by volunteering, or even by contacting our MP and asking for government action. It is clear from the words of both Isaiah and the Psalmist that the salvation God desires for the world is one in which the sick find healing, the disabled find inclusion, the bereaved, the orphaned and the alien are welcomed, and where the fertility of the land – and therefore food production – is replenished.

The passage from Mark’s gospel is fascinating. The Syrophoenician woman understood that people like her were considered by Jews to be less than honourable or worthy, not equal as fellow humans – in fact of little more value than a dog. Initially Jesus seems to behave in the expected way, but the woman sees through this. She realises that Jesus is different, and is sure Jesus will not ignore her need. And indeed Jesus does respond positively affirming her worth and healing her daughter.

The season of creation-tide invites us to understand anew our relationship with creation and with God the creator. There has been debate recently about the definition of the word ‘nature’. Nature obviously describes the flora and fauna of the world, as well as inanimate things such as rivers and mountains. In the past we happily described nature as being everything that is non-human. But now we are questioning that. Surely humans are as much part of nature as any other living thing? We may have some skills that other living things do not have, but at root we share much more in common with other living things. More importantly we cannot live without the rest of nature; we cannot live lives independent of nature. Rather than seeing ourselves as separate and superior to nature, we need to see all of nature – including ourselves – as equally important.

Does this challenge us to think more widely about the command that we love our neighbour not just in word but in deed? When we pray for the wellbeing of the earth, for wellbeing of bees and hedgehogs, for the safeguarding of seas and rivers, our words need to be followed up with deeds. Will we plant more wild flowers, use less insecticides and make gaps in our fences? Will we plant more trees and use less plastic? Will we demand higher standards of care from manufacturers and businesses – and be willing to pay higher prices?

Loving our neighbour is not an easy law but we have God on our side. Therefore let us be strong and not fearful of heart.

Isaiah 35:4-7a

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;

Psalm 146

1 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul! *
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, *
for there is no help in them.

3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, *
and in that day their thoughts perish.

4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *
whose hope is in the Lord their God;

5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise for ever;

6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *
and food to those who hunger.

7 The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; *
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

8 The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord cares for the stranger; *
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.

9 The Lord shall reign for ever, *
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!

James 2:1-10, 14-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Mark 7:24-37

Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Proper 16, 13th Sunday after Trinity

25th August 2024

Reflection with readings below

Many fashion chains that originally began by selling women’s clothes, have gone on to sell men’s and children’s wear, and household goods. They aim to sell you a whole Life Style look. You can be a Next household, an M and S household, a Zara household. Next month Oxfam has its Second Hand September promotion, so maybe you could also be a second hand household – now there’s a challenge that could reduce our environmental footprint.

When I was church warden I worked through the Ecclesiastical Insurance health and safety proforma to create a health and safety policy for our church. The policy focused on the simple principle of accessing and then mitigating risks. It is an approach that has become for me second nature: I need a jar a from the top shelf. Can the stool take my weight? Is the floor flat and the stool stable? Is there a support I can hold into? Risks assessed and minimised: jar safely retrieved.

What else can shape our lifestyle choices? Our politics. Our culture. Our religious faith.
So it is in the first of today’s readings we hear Joshua asking the people if they will choose to follow the God of Israel. This has to be a very clear and definite choice. To follow the God of Israel has to be an absolute commitment – a surrendering of all aspects of their lifestyle choices to that one God. There is no option for a ‘yes but also’ approach, no option for a ‘pick and mix’ approach. On the other hand it is a commitment that is undergirded by their experience that God is the God who cares for them, stands by and protects them.

Jesus is laying out the same challenge, the same invitation in his address to the people in the synagogue. But it is an invitation that offers an even deeper connection with God. It is not just to live a life absolutely committed to do things God’s way, but to live a life in which one internalises God, in which you live eat and breathe God through Jesus, the living – the eternal – word of God.

If we live, breathe and ‘eat’ Jesus, then our lives – our lifestyle – will be shaped completely by that relationship. But that is not to say that we won’t be challenged by alternative or competing choices – by rulers, authorities and cosmic forces as the letter to the Ephesians describes them. We might talk about these distractions as the lure of money, of popularity, of fashion, or as feelings of failure, inadequacy or despondency. Prayer, study, worship, learning, community and fellowship, are in opposition to these, all important ways of maintaining a visceral relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

From psalm 86: 11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you, that I may fear your name.”

Post script – I write about what I believe to be true but I find it hard to act upon it.

Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:

“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

Psalm 34:15-22

15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, *
and his ears are open to their cry.

16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, *
to root out the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears them *
and delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted *
and will save those whose spirits are crushed.

19 Many are the troubles of the righteous, *
but the Lord will deliver him out of them all.

20 He will keep safe all his bones; *
not one of them shall be broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked, *
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.

22 The Lord ransoms the life of his servants, *
and none will be punished who trust in him.

Ephesians 6:10-20

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

John 6:56-69

Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Proper 15, 12th Sunday after Trinity

Reflection with readings below

It is with Wisdom that God created world. Wisdom is following God’s commandments. It is with Wisdom that people gain understanding. But Wisdom is still about choice. We are not automatically filled with Wisdom, we are not programmed to unvaryingly follow Wisdom. There is always the opposite figure, that of Folly which we may pursue. Indeed later in chapter 9 of Proverbs, we come across Golly inviting people to step aside into her house!

Throughout the Bible there is alway choice. The choice to follow God or ignore God. To do what is right or to do what is wrong. To choose what is life giving or what is life-defeating. Adam and Eve make choices. Noah makes a choice. Abraham makes a choice. The people of Israel make a choice. Those who hear the cry of John the Baptist make a choice. Those who believe in Jesus make a choice. Yet the choices we make are not unalterable. If we find we have made a bad choice, we can repent, turn round and make a better choice – as the parable of the prodigal son so colourfully explains.

In today’s first reading we have a dinner invitation. The description of Wisdom preparing the meal, and sending out her invitation to would-be guests sounds very similar to a couple of Jesus’s parables about people preparing sumptuous feasts and then sending out the invitations to the guests. How one receives the invitation becomes the process of judgement. Those who seek a good life, who seek peace and happiness – who seek God’s kingdom – are the ones who accept the invitation positively. Those who turn aside to enter Wisdom’s house have made the right choice; by eating and drinking the meal she has prepared, they internalise Wisdom.

The psalmist also reminds us to make the right choice: “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” And suggests that our approach to God should be one of fear – or as we might phrase it – one of awe. Both awe and fear can sharpen our senses, prompting us to seek out and make the right choices – and not to be lackadaisical. The writer to the Ephesians suggests ways in which we can live our lives wisely and fully – singing songs and praises, giving thanks for everything in the name of Jesus. In other words responding positively to all that God offers us – and thus we will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It all sounds so very simple and yet we can find it such a hard discipline to stick to. Is being wise simple or complicated? Is shaping our lives according to God’s will straightforward or difficult? Is becoming one with Jesus easy or ever so tricky?

If we look back over John’s Gospel we see that for some people the decision to follow Jesus was so simple. Andrew realises straight away that Jesus is the Messiah. Philip too follows him without any hesitation, and when Nathaniel meets him, he straightway recognises him as the Son of God. But then we have people like Nicodemus, teacher and leader of the Jews. He cannot get his intellectual mind around who Jesus is and how one might enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus cannot understand how things can be both earthly and heavenly, how there might be such a fluid interconnection between heaven and earth.

Spiritual food cannot be separated from physical food. Physical food cannot be set aside from spiritual food. We cannot just be satisfied by eating physical bread – we need to understand it spiritually. There is nothing we eat that does not ultimately come from God who is the creator of all things. We need to acknowledge that in giving thanks to God. But neither will we be satisfied with just an intangible spirituality. When we seek the spiritual we need the groundedness of things physical. Baptism comes in the medium of water and the spirit. The Eucharist comes in the medium of bread and wine as well the medium of Christ’s flesh and blood.

And we can chose to accept Jesus’s invitation to share the bread that is his body and the wine that is his blood, as a simple gift – or we can choose to convert it into a complicated conundrum, one which then allows us to create barriers and exclude others.

As we prepare to eat and drink the gift of Jesus, we will remember that all that we have – both physical and spiritual – is a gift from God and that is is only with what God gives us, that we can return our thanks. And this perhaps brings is back to where we began – with Wisdom. Through choosing that invitation, by entering that house and following that way of life, we can live the way God wishes – Wisdom that calls us to care for the earth, for all that God has created, to use and share it wisely with one another, to live simply so that all may simply live.

Let us take that wisdom into every aspect of our lives this week and see how it changes the way we treat others, the way we buy and sell, make and take, give and share, teach and listen, sing and give thanks – to the glory of God the Father and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He

Proverbs 9:1-6

Wisdom has built her house,
she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,
she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls
from the highest places in the town,
“You that are simple, turn in here!”
To those without sense she says,
“Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”

Psalm 34:9-14

9 Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, *
for those who fear him lack nothing.

10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.

11 Come, children, and listen to me; *
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12 Who among you loves life *
and desires long life to enjoy prosperity?

13 Keep your tongue from evil-speaking *
and your lips from lying words.

14 Turn from evil and do good; *
seek peace and pursue it.

Ephesians 5:15-20

Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 6:51-58

Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Proper 14 11th Sunday after Trinity

11th August 2024

Reflection with readings below

Elijah has been so courageous. He has challenged the authority of the priests of Baal and by so doing, the authority of the king himself. He has kept up his challenge all day long and finally risked all by placing all his trust in God as he asked God to bring down fire from heaven to burn up his soaking wet pyre. There must have been there a moment of fear when he doubted whether God would respond and confound all expectations. Then on top of that, he kills the 450 priests of Baal. This is not an action we would in anyway countenance but would surely have been an action that required immense physical strength and endurance.

Elijah has committed everything in his service to God and yet now he is fleeing for his life. He doubts now whether his efforts have achieved anything. How exhausted and drained he must have felt? It is no wonder that he asks to die where he is lies under the broom tree.

God hears Elijah’s cry for help and sends him food and water. God understands that what Elijah needs first is physical sustenance and then rest. Only then will Elijah be ready to be revived spiritually. And in the next part of the story, Elijah will encounter God in the silence of stillness.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is still talking with the people who had been overwhelmed by the feeding of the 5000. They cannot move on from that experience of being fed their full of bread and fish. They can only understand this as a physical action by Jesus and not as a part of the mission he has from God to share the good news of salvation. For Jesus the physical and the spiritual are intertwined. People are healed physically and spiritually. Temple worship is to be reformed physically and spiritually. People are born both of the flesh and the spirit for such is the will of God.

So now Jesus is trying to explain to the people that just eating the bread he provides but not feeding on the spiritual food he offers – ie his teachings – will not bring them the salvation, the peace of mind and union with God, that they seek.

Earth and heaven are interwoven. You can’t engage in spiritual tasks without also engaging with the physical realities of life. You can’t go out on a mission for God without first eating and sleeping. But equally you cannot be fully the human God intends if you only partake of physical food and do not also seek the spiritual nourishment that comes from being in communion with what is of heaven.

St Francis lived a life in which he was constantly torn between wanting to spend all his time in a silent isolation focused on contemplative prayer, and wanting to spend time out and about sharing the gospel with everyone – and that not limited to just humans. He was pulled back and forth between things spiritual and things physical. In reality he could not have done either without the other.

He famously had a fear – an utter revulsion – of lepers. In his youth, he like his contemporaries, would steer clear of any lepers, for fear of infection and fear of the way in which the disease destroyed once appearance and led to social isolation. But as Francis grew in his spiritual life, he found one day the Spirit prompting him to reach out and touch and hug the leper before him. And in that moment he found himself overwhelmed with love for the other, and kissed him, all fear and revulsion gone.

This week we have seen horrendous scenes of anger and hatred – often based on ill-founded and misinformed fears. We have also seen outpourings of compassion and courage in the face of danger. At one point a Muslim leader in Liverpool reached and hugged one of the protestors. Elsewhere people on both sides of the conflict sat outside a cafe as they listen to what the other feared.

If we want peace we need to be able view everyone with compassion. We need to be able to reach out with an openness that will allow us to hear, and hopefully understand, where the other person is coming from – what it is that troubles them.

We have seen people coming together to clear the streets, to clean things up. We have seen people fund raise to enable others to replace damaged property. I hope we will see the government come forward with funds and policies that will properly address the loss of living standards that so many have endured over the last 15 or so years. Only by ensuring justice for all, can peace be found.

As Christians and faith communities we can draw on spiritual strengths that come from God, and we can be inspired the vision of God’s kingdom being established in earth. And we can use our physical resources of property, money and influence, to ensure that such justice is pursued. For truly things spiritual and physical, heavenly and earthly, are entwined and together will glorify God.

1 Kings 19:4-8

Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Psalm 34:1-8

1 I will bless the Lord at all times; *
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

2 I will glory in the Lord; *
let the humble hear and rejoice.

3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *
let us exalt his Name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me *
and delivered me out of all my terror.

5 Look upon him and be radiant, *
and let not your faces be ashamed.

6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *
and saved me from all my troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *
and he will deliver them.

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; *
happy are they who trust in him!

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

John 6:35, 41-51

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Proper 13 10th after trinity

Interconnectedness of heaven and earth, of things spiritual and physical.

4th August 2024

Reflection with readings below

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that God’s kingdom (or reign or rule) and God’s will be done on earth as in heaven – a request that assumes that the rules that are followed in heaven can equally be followed on earth; that what happens in heaven can happen on earth; that the way things are done in heaven as are equally the way things can be done on earth; that what is true in heaven can be true on earth. It is a request that presumes connection and communication – that we can know, can learn, what happens in heaven and can expect to apply that knowledge to the way we live on earth.

Our readings today in different ways show this certainty.

The story from Exodus reveals that God’s desire to satisfy people’s hunger crosses over between the heavenly and earthly domains, such that God rains down bread from heaven for them to eat. Whether in heaven or on earth, it is God’s wish that all are fed. Here on earth that wish is sadly often waylaid by human greed and folly not because there isn’t enough food but because we don’t distribute fairly what is produced, because we allow some people to indulge in unsustainable diets, and because we fail to nurture the soil.

The passage from the Letter to the Ephesians reveals how heavenly shaped gifts have been bestowed on us through our relationship with Jesus, how this flow of gifts from heaven to earth-bound beings has created a body that transcends boundaries and forming us into the one body we name as Christ. These gifts – humility, gentleness, patience, love, peace – are often overlooked or spurned by we the recipients. Often we are either too sure that we know better or too scared to risk using these gifts, that we are reluctant to pray the Lord’s Prayer in earnest. The world could be a radically different place if our behaviour was radically different.

The reading from John’s Gospel equally tells us that it is through our oneness with Jesus – following his example, following his teaching – and feeding on what he gives us, that what can happen in heaven can happen on earth.

It is hard to always take this on board, to live this way – to live this gospel. It is often hard to see how life on earth can become heavenly in character, that our human capacity to destroy the earth could be the capacity to heal the earth, to enable things to happen on earth as in heaven. But that is the gospel message which is our hope.

Exodus 16.2-4,9-15

The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

Psalm 78:23-29

23 So he commanded the clouds above *
and opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained down manna upon them to eat *
and gave them grain from heaven.

25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; *
he provided for them food enough.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *
and led out the south wind by his might.

27 He rained down flesh upon them like dust *
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp *
and round about their dwellings.

29 So they ate and were well filled, *
for he gave them what they craved.

Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,

“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”

(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

John 6:24-35

The next day, when the people who remained after the feeding of the five thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”