way of life – The Green Tau

7th Sunday of Easter

1sr June 2025

Reflection with readings below

Today’s Sunday is always slightly odd. On Thursday we celebrated the Ascension when Jesus left his disciples, removing the physicality of his presence with them, to rejoin God and the heavenly dimensions of life. The disciples are told to wait – to wait for they are not quite sure what but something that will clearly come from God and which will give them renewed strength and a sense of direction. This sign becomes the topic of next Sunday – Pentecost. In the meantime what of this Sunday? The readings don’t retell the Ascension story. Some churches observe this period between Ascension and Pentecost as a time of prayer, and/or of evangelism following Jesus’s injunction in Matthew’s Gospel: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In the first reading from Acts we hear then of Paul and Silas and their ministry as they ‘proclaim a way of salvation’. There must be something about the way that Paul and Silas live their lives and the way they go about this ministry that makes it obvious that who they are is radically different from the norm. That is what the slave girl picks up.

But today how often would people look at Christians and think there is someone who is radically different? Or think there’s a community that lives a radically different lifestyle?

Is salvation a way of life for us, or just a box we ticked at our baptism?

If we were to see and express salvation as a way of living, what would it look like? I’m sure it would be a living expression of kingdom values. Throughout his ministry, Jesus is preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He is announcing in statements, telling in stories and showing in lived expressions, what the kingdom is like and what are its values. In the Ascension readings we hear of Jesus ascending, of Jesus sitting enthroned at the right hand of God – are they telling us that the Ascension inaugurates a new era in the rule of the kingdom of God?

In the passage from Acts, the jailer asks, ‘What must I do to be saved?’

To be saved – to gain salvation – is about healing and restoration and wellbeing in this world. It is about feeling at one with who we are, not feeling overwhelmed by sin, by the ills of the world, not feeling inadequate not hopeless. It is about being confident that we can be faithful as disciples – and that Jesus has faith in us. It is about feeling we can trust that in God’s hands all will be well. It is feeling that we can be confident in what we do and say – if we what we do and say is as God desires.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is explaining how salvation brings an interconnectedness into our relationship with God so that we can like Jesus be at one with God, be enlivened by God’s love, and conduits for God’s glory.

Earlier in John’s gospel we hear Jesus announce in the courts of the temple “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’ ”

Salvation is about life – eternal life. It flows from within us, bursting up like a fountain. It floods our entire being. Salvation is how we live our lives, it is life as it should be lived. It is about joy and celebration, strength and trust. It is about a vitality that allows us to be radical, that allows us to live according to the kingdom values of Jesus. If we don’t live salvation as a way of life, then can we say that we are truly alive?

So maybe what I am learning is that this in between Sunday is about pausing to discern what salvation is and thus to be open to the gift of the Holy Spirit that will help make salvation not a thing of the moment but a lifelong approach to living in the world.

Acts 16:16-34

With Paul and Silas, we came to Philippi in Macedonia, a Roman colony, and, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptised without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Psalm 97

1 The Lord is King;
let the earth rejoice; *
let the multitude of the isles be glad.

2 Clouds and darkness are round about him, *
righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne.

3 A fire goes before him *
and burns up his enemies on every side.

4 His lightnings light up the world; *
the earth sees it and is afraid.

5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, *
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

6 The heavens declare his righteousness, *
and all the peoples see his glory.

7 Confounded be all who worship carved images
and delight in false gods! *
Bow down before him, all you gods.

8 Zion hears and is glad, and the cities of Judah rejoice, *
because of your judgments, O Lord.

9 For you are the Lord,
most high over all the earth; *
you are exalted far above all gods.

10 The Lord loves those who hate evil; *
he preserves the lives of his saints
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light has sprung up for the righteous, *
and joyful gladness for those who are truehearted.

12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, *
and give thanks to his holy Name.

Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21

At the end of the visions I, John, heard these words:

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

John 17:20-26

Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Proper 23, 19th Sunday after Trinity,

15th October 2023

Reflection (readings are below)

If you are wandering in a wilderness without map or compass, who will be the better guide? A golden calf made from recycled jewellery, or God? Who best to follow?

The calf may look bright and shiny. It may feel solid and immovable – although that might itself be a problem. It may have ‘miraculously’ appeared out of the mould. But it is not going to lead the people through the wilderness. It is not going to guide them along the right path. It is not going to speak to them words of comfort nor is it going to teach them words of wisdom.

Hearing the story four and a half thousand years later, the answer is obvious. The people should follow God!

But are we any better today at avoiding false gods? They may no longer come in the form of shiny metal cattle. Their disguise is more subtle. Try GDP and neoliberal economics. That’s the guide we should follow to reach the promised land of endless growth and wealth. Try fossil fuels and their ‘cheap’ bountiful energy. That’s the way to boost the economy and help lift people out of poverty. Try free trade and cheap imports/exports. That’s the way to get the global economy moving. Try low taxation and cheap, un-unionised labour. That will create all the jobs we need. Try retail therapy. The more you buy, the happier you will be!

Each is a false god that offers wealth and happiness for all, but which in reality favours a select few at the expense of everyone and everything else.

The parable from today’s gospel tells the same story. The people who are invited to the wedding feast are being invited to share their lives with the King’s (ie God). But instead they make a different choice. They choose instead to seek happiness being busy at their farm, or concentrating on their business interests. They choose the golden calf over God. Perhaps they don’t realise it straight away but they have missed out on the opportunity of knowing true happiness.

Other guests are invited and take up the invitation. This latter group of guests are keen and committed. They put on party clothes – they want to be in the groove, be part of the party scene. They want to be God’s people, to live their lives in fellowship with God. But maybe just as some might come and look at an idol and not worship, so others may come to the party but take part. Other parables remind us that saying yes and doing no, isn’t the right response.

Perhaps traditionally idols have been understood to be things or objects – be that a statue of a Greek god or a sports car. Or perhaps we have understood an idol to be a personality such as pop star or a football player or a politician. But what if a way of life can be an idol. What if we understand an idol to be that which is the the single focus of our daily life, the things that motivates our every action? That, I think, is what we are asked to do in worshipping God, in following Jesus – to have no other gods.

Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

1 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *
for his mercy endures for ever.

2 Who can declare the mighty acts of the Lord *
or show forth all his praise?

3 Happy are those who act with justice *
and always do what is right!

4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour you have for your people, *
and visit me with your saving help;

5 That I may see the prosperity of your elect
and be glad with the gladness of your people, *
that I may glory with your inheritance.

6 We have sinned as our forebears did; *
we have done wrong and dealt wickedly.

19 Israel made a bull-calf at Horeb *
and worshiped a molten image;

20 And so they exchanged their Glory *
for the image of an ox that feeds on grass.

21 They forgot God their Saviour, *
who had done great things in Egypt,

22 Wonderful deeds in the land of Ham, *
and fearful things at the Red Sea.

23 So he would have destroyed them,
had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, *
to turn away his wrath from consuming them.

Philippians 4:1-9

My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”