tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63102168093241769162024-02-20T18:04:31.918-08:00Reflections from The HillIan McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-10298514507441285122013-07-03T21:34:00.001-07:002013-07-03T21:34:40.611-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Reflections from The Hill – Being Noticeable<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">One of my endearing charms, so I’m told, is to state the bleeding obvious. Whether I’m in a high-powered meeting, or just mucking around home, my capacity for the obvious and the patently clear is legendary.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I’d like to think that I’m in some sort of company when I make my pronouncements but it’s only when I read this week’s Good Word from The Bloke that I know I’m right up there with the best.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">What’s more, the fact that the bon-mot in question is as true now as it was when it was uttered in those Galilean hills is nothing short of spectacular because it tells me we haven’t moved very far in the past two millennia. It’s not what you’d call progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The Bloke is giving us his take on the first century version of the latest job figures and says some stuff about plentiful harvests and few workers. He could be talking about cane harvesting, such is the timelessness of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Of course, there were no multinational mining companies back then paying big money to lure away workers but, hey, take the point: there’s nearly always a surfeit of crops and a deficit of workers, at least in the West, though sub-Saharan Africans might have a different view.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">, he says, so he sent them out two by two. Organisationally, it’s a stroke of genius but in terms of effectiveness, well, I just wonder.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Sure, I know there was no stopping The Bloke’s Movement once it began. Sure, I know that gathering power around a single entity works but decentralising, putting control in the hands of many, is surely the way to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Why, then, do we persist in climbing in order to top the pyramid, asks he quietly lest he get trapped in the obvious again? What’s the matter with a level playing field?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The Bloke’s rejection in his home town, how they drove him out of the church and threatened to chuck him over the cliff, serves a lot in helping me to understand why the unilateral view is to be avoided. Even our PM made some noises recently that he says was a hard lesson for him to learn.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Again, The Bloke’s method of addressing the jobless figures is to send The Team out, two by two, all over the place. It’s mind-blowingly simple when you think about it but then he adds a warning about lambs and wolves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">As I’ve said at other times and in other places, being at the head of the line, at the top of the tree, is a natural tendency; it’s what motivates speech nights and award ceremonies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The Bloke, for all his being obvious however, tells us something else: tops of pyramids ain’t what they used to be. If we don’t get bitten today, then we will tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">We are so easily lured into believing the dream that the church is like an oasis of kindness and that it’s only outside the church that going is tough. Honestly, no one believing that has ever been to a parish council meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">But when Jesus commissioned The Seventy, he made it abundantly clear that working in a team is The Only Way To Go. Rejection going to be par for the course and it’s better to deal with that among mates than by yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Rejection is more prevalent and more intimate than most of us want to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">If you’re anything like me, you’ll sally forth, commissioned, blessed and geared up for action with the hope that this is going to be a joyful ride. The thing to remember is that there are harvests of tears waiting, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer commissioned his young students to go into the Third Reich to proclaim the gospel while facing the real possibility of death. It was no easy road to draw that sharp distinction between cheap grace and costly grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Cheap grace, he says, expects endless pleasantness and is unwilling to confront the powers and principalities. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">True grace loves and doesn’t deride the beloved. True grace knows that the cross is part of life in Christ. It’s really that obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">This Week’s Humour</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> (from Sandy Berardi who heard it from … doesn’t matter)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Two grey-haired Irish guys were working for the Council Works Department. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">One</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> <i>would dig</i> a<i> hole and the other would follow behind him and fill the hole in. They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working furiously all day without rest, one man digging a hole, the other filling it in again.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand what they were doing. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">"I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting in to your work, but I don't get it - why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The hole-digger wiped his brow and sighed, "Well, oi suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a t’ree-person team. Today, de lad who plants the trees called in sick.'"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-4533436379893236872013-06-19T22:47:00.001-07:002013-06-19T22:47:29.227-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Reflections from The Hill – Demons or Madness - June 23, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">As I was reading this week's gospel text, I re-entered the familiar world (for me) of mental illness. As I did, I began to wonder about the myriads of carers of the mentally ill, especially those who cared for this one. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">This much I know, mental illness doesn’t get better quickly. It isn’t like having a broken leg or dealing with the ‘flu or something, but requires a whole raft of people to keep the caring going because it’s probably been going on for quite a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Then I had to ask myself a few difficult questions like “Who was this guy’s mother?” Did she send him to live in the tombs or did he run away all by himself?<br />
<br />
This was followed up by some other questions, like “Who fed him?” “Did people from the village bring him food from time to time or did he scramble for tucker in the dirt and among the rocks?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">“Did people from roundabout leave food for him at a safe distance or were there people he trusted to come near? Did he have any friends? Who were they?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">“Did he have bouts of sanity? Or was he sick all the time? Was he like so many suffering with mental illness, who had periods where he was seemed to be on the planet and functioning?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">“How did his friends or family interact with him during his times of wellness? Were they on edge waiting for his behaviour to take its well-known and inevitable turn?”<br />
<br />
The world of mental illness is a world defined by fear, depression, suicide, chemical imbalances, sleep deprivation, anger, rage, sadness, crying, confusion, hallucinations. And that’s just the carers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">For those who are afflicted, it’s worse. Even after thousands of years, the mentally ill are still people we shun.<br />
<br />
When you get involved with people who have a mental illness, there is always volatility, always unknown outcomes, always concern, and, only rarely, stability – your own and that of the sufferers.<br />
<br />
To name all ‘mental illness’ as ‘demon-possession’ can be as problematic as naming all ‘demon possession’ as ‘mental illness’. Plainly, like any generalisation, neither are true yet both are true. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">There are too many examples of successful exorcisms to dismiss them that easily. What’s more, The Bloke’s entire ministry is liable to be explained away in terms of logic and science if they were and that’s not on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">We forget at our peril that he spent most of his time in the spirit realm, so to try to pass the miracles off as some kind of ordinary event is just fanciful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Luke has gone to great lengths to link a dead man and a lady of dubious character with a nutter. Then he places this young man in the cemetery of a Jewish town (yes, Jewish) where the main source of income was raising pigs. Luke couldn’t be any more offensive if he tried.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">In the context, it seems that Luke wants to help the reader see that The Big Fella’s intention is to include those who previously have been regarded as contaminating and unclean.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Spare a thought for the poor pig farmers who have just seen their precious porkers plunge faster than the fortunes <i>on Deal or No Deal</i> and so terrified were they that they asked The Bloke to get on his bike real quick.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At the end, we have a man was made whole and he wanted to follow The Bloke. We have a town community was made whole and it begins to notice that the young man’s health was emblematic of theirs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I guess it’s only my curiosity that wants me to know what happened next and how the man’s story ended. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-79811137123608432412013-06-05T22:00:00.001-07:002013-06-05T22:00:44.788-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Reflections from The Hill – In The Midst of the Valley – Luke 7.11-17 <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">From time to time, events in The Bloke’s Story really stir the pot. Take the business of dying, for example. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Apart from his own Up-He-Came, there are just three occasions in The Good Book when The Bloke intervenes in someone’s death: his mate Lazarus: Jairus’ daughter; and the event in today’s Gospel Reading about a dead man, his mother and a funeral procession.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Maybe it’s something of a surprise that this list of three is as short as it is but it is full of significance, as we shall see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I don’t suppose people back in Those Times felt any different from the way people feel today when someone shuffles off the coil, especially if the deceased one is a close relative.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">What we hang out for in grief today is a sense of peace, a chance to grieve and to join in, as much as we can, with the loved one’s final journey. In one way or another, while cultures may do it slightly differently, these would be common expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">So it’s a bit more than a shock to the system when The Bloke interrupts a funeral procession. In any culture, even now, interrupting a funeral is a huge violation of propriety; you just don’t do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I wish someone had told the local police about propriety at funerals before an all-too-eager constable began to breathalyse the whole cortege on one sad day back in my home town. I believe he was posted out of harm’s way very soon after.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">For The Bloke, well, he just added ritual uncleanness to his list of blunders by reaching out his hand and touching the bier. That little action was about as rude as what Constable Plod did.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The one difference between The Plod and The Bloke was that the dead person sat up and spoke. It’s not surprising to read that some of the onlookers were speaking by then as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It’s interesting and educational for us to recognise that The Bloke did what he did out of compassion for a person in need, out of someone else’s broken heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">He wasn’t protesting against death and he wasn’t making a big song-and-dance about death. It was Jairus’ devotion, Mary’s tears and the Widow’s desperation that motivated him, nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Of all the people who The Bloke met, of all the people he prayed with, touched, preached to or just walked past, there were only three who were brought back from the finality into which they’d gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">That challenges me. It challenges me because I’ve got this lingering belief that, as a Christian, I’m saved from all that. Healed and saved from death. It’s not huge in my array of life beliefs but it’s there just the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">In those occasional madnesses, I can sometimes get to a point where I reckon that all I need do is shoulder my way in a bit closer to Him and He’ll pick me. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It ain’t like that, though, is it? What it is, however, looks as if The Bloke is pushing us to see that death is not the Spectacular Evil we think it is but is an ordinary, almost banal, happening in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The three people He raised from the dead will die again. No resurrection next time. Next time, death is final and permanent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">If you and I are to know the wonder of life in the midst of death, then somehow we’ve got to see that life is not about being a spectator, watching death proceed to the cemetery or wailing at the doorway.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Life is about being human, about having a heart that breaks, about knowing the difference between those decisions that increase the power of evil and those which restore life in the valley of the shadow of death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When The Bloke is nearby speaking and touching and healing even the broken hearts, we’ll know we’re on a winner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-10138295178328344812013-05-29T22:00:00.001-07:002013-05-29T22:00:19.741-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Reflections from The Hill – Pentecost 2 – Luke 7.1-10 – Rattling Cages<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Every now and then, someone comes along who rattles our cage. Generally, it’s someone whom we least expect and who acts in a way that really throws us off our nicely balanced walk through life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Someone who’s doing this for me currently is Pope Francis. Now, I’m not any kind of Vatican-Watcher – nor am I a Cantabophile, which is like an Anglican version of the afore-mentioned Vatican Watcher.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">In the last couple of weeks, the Man-in-White has done some stuff and said some things that, if any of the Clergy in our Field of Dreams did it and said them, no-one would turn as much as a hair. It’d be seen as just a part of normal parish life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">What Francis <i>did</i> was to pray for someone who was sick, with the laying on of hands. What he <i>said</i> was that everyone is redeemed by Jesus’ sacrifice, whether they believe it or not. Both episodes have turned quite a few hairs, it seems.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">First, he was accused of ‘performing exorcisms’; and then he proclaimed that it’s not just the Catholics who’ll get to heaven. Poor bloke has obviously been reading the Bible and is fast heading into Loopy Land, such has been the impact.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">My guess is that the stink in the Vatican ain’t just caused by the universally-acknowledged Italian plumbing system but also by someone taking seriously the story in this week’s Gospel about a Centurion, a Slave and the Onlookers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The issue is not that someone as unlikely as Pope Francis should demonstrate a level of faith. The issue is that we think it unlikely for him to do something like this in the first place. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I mean, Popes are supposed to stay inside St Peter’s and occasionally go on world tours or come the window and wave now and then, aren’t they? He shouldn’t be doing <i>that</i>, should he?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Amazingly, there’s no record that the person Francis prayed with was healed or ‘came to faith’, as the spitfire pilots of the church would say. Maybe s/he was there already. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Nor is there a record yet that some unchurched person has been drawn to the Big Fella’s heart because of what Francis said, although I’m warming to the idea that, sometime, there will be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Think about Jesus and the Centurion. There’s no reason to for us to believe that the centurion became a Follower. He wasn’t even all that excited to meet The Bloke – and that doesn’t cause The Bloke or Luke any problems at all. Instead, The Bloke praises the guy for his outstanding faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">We know nothing about this soldier: where he came from, who his parents were, what school he attended, nothing. All we know is that he’s graduated from Grunt College to become Someone Important in the military hierarchy of Imperial Rome. He’s hardly a candidate for the Faith Test.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">My guess is, should I do a straw poll of readers of this <i>Reflection</i>, that each of us has or knows someone like him: someone who’s faith doesn’t show, who doesn’t seem to go to church or maybe isn’t a follower of The Bloke at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">As well, I reckon that there are many of us Christians out there who struggle with the outsiders: those family members and friends whose relationship to The Big Fella and The Church is, at best, fragile or, worst, non-existent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Often, and sadly, the only thing we often hear about those outsiders is from those in that part of the church who say that if these folks don’t believe, they’ll go to the only place that offers year-round, mighty hot, central heating. That’s all, nothing else, just heating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Would The Big Fella use him/her? Could s/he be an example of faith? Could s/he be used by Him for His purposes, even if they wouldn’t call it that? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Would we have the grace and courage to approve and commend their actions if they did and share our gratitude that The Big Fella loves and uses them, too? My reading of today’s Good News says that we can.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-5802214728753590462013-05-22T23:51:00.001-07:002013-05-22T23:51:20.589-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Reflections from The Hill – Put on the Dancing Shoes – John16.12-15<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I won’t say I was never a wall flower or a shrinking violet; far from it, really. However, I still marvel at the fact that I was never left out when it came to the Ladies Choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Whether it was a progressive Barn Dance, the stately Pride of Erin or an Old-Time Waltz, I certainly wasn’t on my Pat Malone. Maybe the ladies felt sorry for me, I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">If there was a problem, however, it was because I can’t actually dance – a fact with which My Dearly Beloved will heartily agree. Back then, I must have looked like a dancer, I suppose. There was nothing much else that would commend me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">This might be a parable of the way some of us relate to The Big Fella – mostly on the outer, can’t seem to do it, waiting for an invitation to join in. Truth is that the invite is already out there, waiting. For what? Godot, perhaps?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">For a people who were stuck on The One True God thing, chaps like Abraham and Moses were heroes, and had been so for quite a while. Rightly so; there is only so much room in the camels’ saddle bags for a pile of statues.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Then along came the Christians and we really upset the apple cart. What we were banging on about sounded for all the world like a regression to the old pantheon of multiple gods and more saddlebags.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">“Hmmm, we need a theologian”, cried the populace and a few good men put up their hands in successive, but not always successful, attempts to answer the conundrum of the Three-in-One. As I say, it sounded a lot like three chooks in a basket, at least until Good Ole Auggie came to town.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Known as a Thinker, Auggie latched on to the notion of Lover, Beloved, Love-Between-Them to explain the mystery, but, as I’ve said elsewhere, we’ve got to learn that when the church calls something ‘a mystery’ it’s probably because that’s what it is and that it ain’t any good trying to unravel it because it won’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Eventually, some smart fellers, Yuppies probably, in a real attempt to get away from gender-specific language, reckoned that describing Trinity in terms of what the Trinity did would be good. So we got the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier type of words, which are not always on the money, either.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It does seem that there’s not enough language available to us to put into words what we want to say or believe – or both – about God-in-Trinity. So, how do we handle all this?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It’s instructive for us if we recognise that, throughout the arc of history, certain individuals seem to get such a handle on the Trinity that their insights become helpful for the rest of us and are not consigned to the scrapheap. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Some writers, thinkers, artists, musicians, scientists and more, have each had a profound effect on our understanding of this Wonder by doing what they do best. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">These insights have one thing in common: they each describe God-in-Trinity in terms of a relationship. These insights unpack the identity of the Trinity. What The Trinity does, in fact, comes second.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The essence that is most commonly described is Love: Love that is God, a dynamic, affirmative and mutual icon of The Big Fella Himself. God is Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Moreover, the Trinity is a bit like a Divine Dance that’s taking place, a graceful and intimate set of movements that need no others to complete it but where he has invited us to join, just like my belles at the Ladies Choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Those invitations have been written and sent out. There’ll be no wallflowers, no onlookers, no outcasts there. He has chosen to create and redeem us to join him on the Dance Floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The tough thing is to put it into practice, to make it so that each person, each family, parish, church council, school, diocese, nation and so on, has been transformed into a living icon of the Trinity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">So, Luke and Lucy, put on your Dancing Shoes. That way, at least, you’ll be ready when the music starts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-26525065306808161042013-05-15T22:07:00.001-07:002013-05-15T22:07:05.415-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Reflections from The Hill – He’s Up To Something – Acts 2.1-11<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you stack the Old Book story from Ezekiel about skin-grafted bones rising from the ground with, say, the talking, fiery, tongues of today’s First Reading, it’s hard not to imagine that they might be some left-over story ideas for <i>The Poltergeist</i> or <i>Waking The Dead</i>, only better.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">And, after three years of following The Bloke around the Holy Land and seeing examples of walking on water, multiplication of loaves and fishes, healings, risings from the dead and exorcisms, The Mob were pretty-well tuned up to expect some crazy stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">At one level, it must have been fun. So much fun in fact, that if you or I had met one of The Mob in the street, chances is we’d be on the blower quicker than you could say “Mephibosheth” and have them committed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Or we’d disregard them, which is what has happened mostly. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Truth is, the Big Fella operates at a phenomenal and surrealist level pretty much all time: it’s just that we’ve chosen to disregard most of what He does. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The idea that God is an Englishman, and therefore not prone to excessive behaviour, runs deep.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">We now need such a massive shift in our religious expectations and frozen beliefs that we tend to take the easy option and stay bland.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">As a result, our church-going becomes a learned behaviour, a patterned response, rather than a joy to behold or an excitement to celebrate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">But rather than bemoan or highlight our way of life (we’re really good at turning the focus onto us), let’s take a gander at what happens when The Big Fella comes to town. Usually there’s a whole lot of shakin’ going on …<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">There’s shaking the thinking, there’s shaking the beliefs, there’s shaking the hearts and there’s a challenge to the on-lookers and readers to testify to the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When the Big Fella comes to town, he sends the Spirit and amazing things happen: barriers are broken, communities are formed, opposites are reconciled, and unity is established. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When the Big Fella comes to town, diseases are cured, addictions are broken, cities are renewed, races are reconciled, hope is established, people are blessed, and real church happens.<br />
<br />
Today the Spirit of God is as present today as He was on the Birthday of the Church (we call it Pentecost). The invitation is to get ready, because He’s up to something. Maybe His presence will look like this in your place: <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Discouraged folks cheer up,<br />
Dishonest folks ’fess up,<br />
Sour folks sweeten up,<br />
Closed folk open up,<br />
Gossipers shut up,<br />
Conflicted folks make up,<br />
Sleeping folks wake up,<br />
Lukewarm folk fire up,<br />
Dry bones shake up,<br />
Pew potatoes stand up!<br />
But most of all, Christ the Saviour of all the world is lifted up... <br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">(from Rick Kirchoff, Germantown Methodist Church, USA):</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">In that first Pentecost of experiential wonders, what we readers pick up is the total immersion by the Spirit of those who were there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It’s as if their whole being was penetrated by Him and they are so bathed with His breath that there is no space for anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Like unseen air, the Spirit moves on the ones gathered and his sheer presence and power demonstrates that The Big Fella is serious about what’s happening and he shows it by drawing from each one acclamations of praise, even prophecies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Is it any wonder that The Bloke warned The Mob (in John 16.12) that what he has to say is actually too much to bear? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The vast size of The Big Fella’s agenda and the myriads of his ways are just too big for us to get our heads around sometimes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-17625105387311909982013-05-01T22:03:00.001-07:002013-05-01T22:03:01.587-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Stopping or Staying? – John 14.23-29<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I am forever indebted to those who have helped me understand the difference between ‘stopping’ and ‘staying’, especially when it comes to relatives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In the first, the idea is that your resting place is only temporary madness, while in the second, a more permanent state of mind is indicated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Some of our friends were really out-there when it came to hospitality. Generous to a tee, one couple we knew actually erected a sign on their front lawn that read “Trespassers Welcome”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I can’t recall whether it was the Council by-laws or the couple themselves that had the sign removed. In any case, it created something of a challenge for everyone. Bravery is not always pre-meditated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Personally, I loved having people come over to our place: the bigger the house, the more people we could fit in. Today, though, living in a shoe box that gets smaller by day, my great sadness is that we haven’t really got the space for more than one extra bottom – and even that’s bit of a squeeze.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Preparing for the arrival of a guest/s has always been a bit of a drama, too. You do whatever is needed: wash the floor, vacuum the carpet, scrub the toilet (especially if there are little kids), and fill the pantry with food. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">You do that rather than get the crumbs out of the cutlery drawer or paint the front door, things you do to avoid the onslaught of people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">(Just as an aside, I once knew a family that painted the roof of the house, redecorated the spare room and painted all the ceilings just before rellies arrived. The family still talk to us, which itself is a miracle.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But what about staying, that more permanent arrangement; what about that? I confess that our home has been pretty free of people who come to stay in the sense we’re meaning, although a great aunt came close once. I’m glad she didn’t because I might have done something illegal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Perhaps staying in a church-owned house created a problem for potential guests. Perhaps our own ‘keep-out’ vibes were too strong. Perhaps we were being over-protective of our own space, which I know I can be, even still.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In the Big Fella-department, hospitality is definitely an issue. We read about it in today’s Gospel Reading. Sure, I know He wants to come and stay, sure I know He wants to abide. Sure, I know He’s preparing a place. Sure, He’s got lots of rooms in His Mansion, which is a Good Thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The other side of that, though, is that He wants to prepare us for that place as well. Not just a case of getting the room tidy, or building an extension but actually working on our hearts to live with The Big Fella. That’s more than I ever did for our Auntie.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In His place, there are no unwelcomed guests and no-one will ever take away the ‘trespassers welcome’ sign simply because everyone is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I once read the challenge in these words: “</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">We are to make time and space now to welcome Jesus into our lives. Welcoming (Him) to abide in us as we abide in him is the primary and preferred way John describes discipleship…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">There will be times when disappointments overtake us and people will let us down. What happens then? Well, something like making a decision to not leave The Big Fella alone in an empty house, especially the one that He has prepared for us to stay in, might be a good start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-51952735280554328282013-04-17T23:15:00.001-07:002013-04-17T23:15:03.680-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Life As a Pencil – John 10.22-30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I get a bit fed up with stories about sheep and shepherds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that I might be buying myself a fight, but really, aren’t there any other kinds of objects that could be used to tell this story?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">OK, OK. Assumed favouritism with cattle men is probably not a good option to take, nor would an implied liking for the Goat-Herder’s Co-operative or the Duck Fancier’s Association.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I desperately want to say a few words about this week’s Gospel but I’m hamstrung by the subject matter. My suggestion is that instead of animals or birds, we use something inanimate like pencils. Yep, pencils.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">A pencil is a humble thing. Ask any old-fashioned green grocer, butcher, plumber or chippie, if you can find one, and you’ll know what I mean.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Stowed behind the ear or in the hair and drawn from its storage like an arrow, it calculated all kinds of measurements – as well as the costs of your lumber, meat and vegetables – on pieces of cardboard, real board, the meat’s wrapping or just on little scraps of paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We don’t see this very much these days because people use calculators or adding machines. Like a lot of old-fashioned things, time has come to pass for them – and it has – and we are the poorer for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I know people who have tried running rear-guard actions by refusing to use those inventions of Mr Biro but have ended up with plastic versions of pencils, which is almost an oxymoron. Where to get a good pencil, that’s what I want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Why, do I hear you ask? Because there’s more to a pencil than meets the eye, that’s why; certainly more than one of them new-fangled propelling pencils, that’s for sure. It’s not just a bit of wood with a shaft of graphite down the middle, you know. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Let’s put ourselves in a pencil’s shoes and try to see life from that perspective. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless we’re as thick as two of them, we’ll notice that we’ll only ever do great stuff if we let ourselves be held in The Big Fella’s hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Left to ourselves, we might find ourselves up somebody’s nose or being used to write rude things on dunny walls but, in The Big Fella’s hands, we have the ability and capacity to do some pretty awesome stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We’ll need to watch the tendency we’ll have to get blunt, though. The more we let ourselves be used, the more we’ll find ourselves in need of a good sharpen and, let me tell you, that can be a bit painful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Troubles and trials have a habit of wearing us as flat as a shearing shed floor. Trials might even break us in half but if The Bloke hasn’t overcome the world, The Bloke’s done nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Of course, we’ll go outside the lines and run off onto another page so it’d pay to have an eraser handy. There was a time when little erasers were stuck on the end of the pencil but, like a lot of things, I ain’t sure anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In any case, arguments and disappointments, even selfishness, spoil the work we do, even in The Big Fella’s hand. Learn to use that eraser quickly; the longer the mistake is left, the harder it is to remove.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">My own Good Lady used to have a drawer full of pencils, each of them blunt, each of them with a different paint job on the outside, each looking like a contestant in an Indie-500 car race: stripes, solids and sparkly stuff, you know the sort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I’m here today to remind us that a good paint job does not a good pencil make: it’s what’s on the inside that counts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">That’s been said before. When we live our life as if the graphite is the most important thing, then the real pencil shows through. It’s the inner part, in the hands of The Big Fella himself, that’ll do the Good Job.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Once upon a time, our kids used to leave marks on whatever was closest: walls, clothes, guitars, antique furniture. I’m glad to report they don’t do that anymore, mainly because I figured out that it might be helpful to slosh some blackboard paint in their direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">It was helpful, and the point is simple: let’s learn allow ourselves to be an instrument in The Big Fella’s hands. Availability is more important than ability.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Listen to His Voice as He teaches us how to leave a legacy, a mark, on every surface we are used on. We are making a difference to what- and where-ever He points us towards.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Being a pencil in the Boss’s hands is a safe and secure place to be. Lying around on a table, hiding in a handbag or being lost in a drawer is quite the opposite and I know where I’d rather be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-48309085889648119322013-04-10T23:18:00.001-07:002013-04-10T23:18:16.157-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Surviving Failures – John 21.1-19<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">You may or may not know that I come from a long line of bookies, card sharps and other ne’er-do-wells. Even before the Fine Cotton ring-in (a famous horse-swap race of 1984), my grandpa was switching nags just to pocket a few extra quid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">He didn’t always win but, then, losses didn’t deter him. In fact, the one who came off second best was Gran. On a tour of the town where she and Grandpa first lived, we drove past at least six houses that he’d lost on a Good Thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then there were the billiard saloons, the racehorse stables at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Randwick</st1:city></st1:place>, the Gun Club, the cars and the Magnums, each of which went the same way, all, that is, except the cigars that he smoked until he died. I figured they won but mainly lost a couple of fortunes in their lifetime. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Their life together could well be a parable of the Church. I’m not saying that the world of gambling, country race meetings and dodgy relationships with the police were Good Things. What I am saying is that value-added survival in the midst of failure is the name of the game.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Take Big Pete for example. Chosen, nominated and commissioned, Pete was obviously the Leader. Most Leaders get commissioned at the beginning of their Leadership (see Luke 5), but John puts his commissioning story at the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Yeah, I know what we read for the Gospel today looks like a Resurrection story and it sounds like a Resurrection story, therefore, it should be a Resurrection story … but it’s also a commissioning story. Maybe even a re-commissioning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The apostle John positions himself in the story in such a way as to be the good boy, the only one left standing after The Catastrophe. He alone kept faith with The Bloke and his family right to The End. All the others had fallen away, failed. Now, they couldn’t even catch fish.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As for Pete, the last time he was anywhere near a charcoal fire was when he was in the High Priest’s courtyard and a slip of a servant-girl tried to put the finger on him. That’s when he denied The Bloke three times, thus giving new meaning to the phrase “Triple Header.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">So here we are again, standing around a charcoal fire and not a servant-girl in sight. It’s The Bloke’s turn to put the wood on Big Pete. Three times The Bloke invites a response from Peter; three times he gets an answer. This time, it’s three strikes and you’re in.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Not only is Big Pete restored, he‘s also drawn back into the community of faith and is given some meaningful work to do. That’s important. Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Simply this; failing to witness and walking away from God is a given. It’s going to happen, people, so be warned and be prepared.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">But The Bloke doesn’t just forgive the falling short. He doesn’t simply say “That’s OK Pete” and then move on. He actually recommissions him with those healing, hopeful words “feed my sheep, my lambs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Here, The Bloke is laying out the most encouraging thing he could; a word that creates an opportunity. Would that we could do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not simply a matter of Pete trying harder next time; The Bloke wants Big Pete to share what he has with those around about him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Can we bear the weight of that? Can we bear the weight of hearing Jesus’ forgiveness over the whole of our lives? Can we bear the weight of bringing that forgiveness to the cornucopia of Jesus’ own provision for us and value-add it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Of course, we’ll fall short of our goals and aspirations; of course, we’ll compromise on this or that or something else; of course, we won’t follow through on stuff and, of course, there will be times when we’ll disappoint and fall off the pace altogether.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">To think that we won’t is silly – and that’s why we need to hear John’s story of Peter’s recommissioning, not just the story of Luke’s baptismal instructions that launched them (read ‘us’) into ministry. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">After each failure, Jesus invites us to try again and to value-add what we have. That’s when we leave our cocoon of worship and go out into the Kingdom for some meaningful work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-6858763569006628032013-04-03T21:34:00.001-07:002013-04-03T21:34:03.707-07:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">Reflections from The Hill – The Never-Ending Story – John 20.19-31<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“Hey Ian, what story did ya tell ‘em last Sunday? The one about the Easter Bunny? Or was it the one about The Easter Egg?” so asked Wal, an ex- chalky-friend of mine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The thing about the stories I read on Sundays, as I constantly reminded Wal, is that every last one of them invites us to be a participant in the action, not to simply be a passive listener whose only activity occurs near the edge of their head.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As I say that, I need to be careful that you are clear about this: I’m not saying that the Bible is fantasy … but … I do say that there is a similarity behind many of the stories we read in the Scriptures and the world of fantasy writing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The common ground is that both invite us to participate in the story. Whether it’s The Narnia Series, The Never Ending Story or the scene with the so-called Doubting Thomas that we read today, we’re invited to be part of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s like as if a little window to heaven opens up and we’re being called to step up and into this different dimension. Most certainly, John is not telling us about something that simply happened in the past, like a history lesson. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">John wants us to get the message that participating in these events will actually change the shape of the immediate present and the on-going future of everyone who reads them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">That’s why John tacks on those verses at the end, where he tells us that the reason why he chose these particular stories was so that anyone who heard them would believe that Jesus was the Messiah after all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Where fantasy stories and the Gospel part company is right here: John wants to persuade, to prompt, to provoke us, the reader, to a living faith. The <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Never-Ending Story</span></i> and its ilk don’t even come close to doing that, no matter how good they are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The face-to-face meeting with Thomas (included in the Gospel for your edification) is another one of those little windows that invite us to climb through into heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I always reckoned that The Bloke was a bit hard on poor old Tom. After all, he was just asking for what everyone else had experienced. All he wanted was a slice of the action, as they say. Anyway, I reckon it’s a bit rough to call him “Doubting”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Think about it for a bit: who else is going to believe without seeing? Every other human person in the whole world from then on, pretty much. That includes me and you and Great-Aunt Maud, and funny little Eric and …<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Each of us has struggled to continue believing without our peepers or our pinkies. Does The Bloke call us “Doubter”? Nah. He calls us “Blessed” and Tom is at the head of the line. How cool is that?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This never-ending story didn’t just start on Easter Day. It actually started when creation happened and it’s still going today and it’ll carry on until the end of time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The awesome thing is that you and I are characters in this story. We’ve been invited to learn from those millions and trillions who’ve come before us, to learn from them about faith and courage and fear and sadness and about making mistakes and getting it wrong and knowing how to put it right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Unlike Tom and the others, our doors aren’t closed any more. We’re not closeted disciples with closeted minds. Despite what we might see, we don’t live in ghettoes or silos. We’ve been called out of them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The Tomb-Breaker is telling us that being cocooned by fear is yesterday’s bread. It’s stale old and useless. Why? Because the breath of the resurrection is still fresh on our cheeks, that’s why.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-68060064990633145222013-03-26T20:45:00.001-07:002013-03-26T20:45:47.619-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Leaving <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Normal</st1:city></st1:place> – John 20.1-18<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Every day someone, somewhere, receives hard news from their doctor. Every day someone, somewhere, is told to clean their desk out because the business is finding it hard to keep them on. They wonder what on earth they’re going to tell their kids. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Every day someone, somewhere, hears the words “I never loved you”. Every day somewhere, an elderly couple’s only child phones to cancel his holiday visit to them after all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Every day somewhere, someone’s hopes get dashed. Every day somewhere, someone’s dream gets snuffed out. Every day somewhere, someone’s reputation gets crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In that same darkness, one particular Mary came with spices to complete a job of burying someone, one who had given her so much hope. Ever since, all over the world, things haven’t been the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We’ll never know that the Light of Christ has come until we’ve known the darkness of disappointment and hopelessness in some form or another. The absolute last thing we’re expecting is resurrection; the last place that we might look for it is in a cemetery.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We all know Easter’s not about rabbits, endangered bilbies or magically-painted (or just plain chocolate) eggs. Easter is really about having more hope than we ever knew was possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Picture Mary walking along the road to the tomb: thoughts of her last few days tossing in her head; thoughts of <st1:place w:st="on">Galilee</st1:place>; thoughts of that fragrant moment in her home when the perfume pervaded the house; thoughts of the time when He was popular. There was hope then. Not now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">She was horrified to find that the body had gone. She reckoned that someone had pinched it. Of course, she was scared and overwhelmed, so she went looking. It’s amazing how much running around there is when dead bodies go missing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In the end, it’s all too much for her: falling by the door of the now empty tomb, the dribbles of tears begin their sad descent. Was it madness that led her to ask the angels? No matter; their answer didn’t impress her anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then she supposed a gardener appeared. But he was not. All she wanted was for him to give her back the body but all he did was call her by name. Heart recognition wanted to embrace him but he said no. Heart break followed again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Every time we think we have him in our arms, hands, captured, he slips away because every effort we make to nail him down is just another effort to put him back in the tomb. It’s futile, because he won’t go.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then we find him again, in an even more unmanageable form this time, almost unrecognisable. Don’t we understand yet that the very thing we are looking for is dead – and Easter doesn’t alter that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We can’t cling to the hope that he’ll take things back to the way they were, not only because he can’t but also because that’s not the way out of the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The old <i>Rabbouni</i> we once knew has been left behind like yesterday’s clothing and until we discover the new Christ, the new saviour who alone has risen out of our disappointments, we’ll never really understand what Easter’s about. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s never been a matter of just believing the doctrine of the Resurrection. If it were, it wouldn’t be long before we found ourselves conforming to the darkness and making gooey claims about the “spirit of Easter” or about “new beginnings.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not a matter of belief in the historical event itself, either. (I can hear you sucking air between your teeth even as I write this, but stay with me.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What each of the Gospels asks is not “Do you believe this?” but “Have you met the risen Christ?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There is no doubt in my mind that Mary was the same after that first Easter morning. Her normality had been shattered the very minute she discovered that her hold on him wasn’t the issue. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What did matter was the confidence she had in his hold on her. It’s an easy step, then, that when it comes to our turn, the story is the same. It’s not about us holding on but of him holding on to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">After the resurrection, things didn’t return to normal: they never could. It’s basic to everything else the New Testament talks about. There is no ‘Normal’ anymore. We can’t even rely on the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What we can rely on, the only thing we can know is that the risen one is out there somewhere. And he knows our name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-33436017123462695292013-03-13T18:00:00.001-07:002013-03-13T18:00:49.283-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Hair – John 12.1-9<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span class="lineline-s"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair</span></i></span><span class="lineline-s"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span class="lineline-shover"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span class="lineline-shover"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Give me down to there, hair, shoulder length or longer<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span class="lineline-shover"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Here baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddy …</span></i></span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br />
<br />
So begins the theme song of the Rock Musical “Hair”, a shock-wave of impropriety once upon a time that would hardly raise a gasp these days.</span><o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">When this song starts, my old-man’s mind flips straight to the Gospel Reading for today. True. And a picture emerges of a long-haired lady falling at Jesus’ feet de-tressing her locks …<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What on earth was she thinking? I mean, hair is such an intimate part of the body that its use as a washer and a towel for someone’s else’s feet only raises lots of questions that I’d rather not even think about.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I must admit, the whole hair thing is way out of my comfort zone. It’s hard enough having a haircut, without a blow-dry as well. Certainly, the length of hair on my hoary head precludes me washing my own face with it, let alone someone else’s feet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not at all surprising, then, to discover that Judas’ response to Mary’s actions was somewhat curt. He’s right: the year’s-wages worth of pure nard is a ridiculous amount of money to spend just on one pedicure or hairdo.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The fact that this scene had the added bonus of a resurrection does change things, so I don’t suppose you can blame Mary; not really. I guess that she was simply trying to put some shape to the feelings of thankfulness that were going on deep in her spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Judas’ outburst only confuses things, for in response, Jesus links Mary’s actions with the question of discipleship and, to my mind, that’s the major factor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Discipleship and its corollary of servanthood, is on show here; that much is obvious. And we see that it’s a double-edged sword – that discipleship and service is both giving to and receiving from another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not hard to be struck by the parallels we’ll read about before we get to Good Friday, where Jesus strips down and washes the feet of the disciples ‘while they were at supper’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There’s no long hair there. There’s no fragrance of nard to fill the room, only a serious call to do similarly. The rub comes, as I’ve already intimated, in receiving: put up your hand if you really want your feet washed, your load made lighter or your ordinary life graced by the sweetness of sacrificial love?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s a tough ask, isn’t it? Tough because you and I tend not to believe that what we are offering is in the same league as what we’re about to receive. Leaving aside our self-deprecations, I wonder what it would take to stir us to offer something as lavish and intimate as nard?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Servanthood is not always about neatness, either. It’s often unconventional, wasteful and improper. It’s also messy. I’m beginning to think, however, that it’s what the generosity of discipleship actually looks and smells like most of the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Speaking of smells, death is already starting to cloy around the players in today’s story, so what Mary is doing – and what The Bloke does in the Upper Room a while later – is what we often wished we had done, up to a point anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Mary discovers this truth: that discipleship is about community, not about a race to get a preferred personal place at His Side.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Unlike us, Mary didn’t have to wait for The Bloke to die before she acknowledged his gift to us. She was pouring it all out there and then …<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-20365266896000020652013-03-06T21:50:00.001-08:002013-03-06T21:50:42.350-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">Reflections from The Hill – Prodigals – Luke 15.11-31<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I love stories about prodigals, whatever their age shape, size or sexual orientation. There’s just something <i><span style="font-style: italic;">human</span></i> about them – the going away, the messing up and the coming home; it’s so real – and I’m a sucker for real.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There are a couple of them in the Good Book; Joseph’s tale being by far the longest. Here’s a classic tale of redemption. Not only did Joseph and his brothers weep when they finally met but, over centuries, many readers done the same.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">However, this wonderful story pales into insignificance when it gets stacked up against this week’s Gospel. Without a doubt, the Parable of the Prodigal Son trumps Joseph – and everything in its path.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In the popularity stakes, it might run neck and neck with the Parable of The Good Samaritan, but my money’s on The Prodigal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If we’re not careful, though, the Prodigal can become a religious Aesop’s Fables: a challenging story with a nice moral ending. Nothing should be further from our mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The remarkable thing is that the Parabolic reader – you and I – can so easily identify with each of the characters. There’s not one of us who hasn’t felt the frustration of the younger brother, or had the longing, broken, heart of the father or harboured the resentments of the elder brother, whether we’re male or female.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This parable is not about something that happens to other people. It’s about us; it’s our story with all its familiar twists and turns. We inhabit its words and we live in it, which makes it easier for us to hear God’s invitation to come home. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Having said all that and established The Prodigal on the top of my all-time list of Favourites, I still think there’s a couple of issues the story raises. Let me start with the father. (I’m sure you’re aware that this Parable is often called The Parable of The Forgiving Father.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This guy is an example of a pushover, someone who’s prepared to give their child whatever s/he wanted, even after getting an offensive mouthful from him. (By asking for his inheritance, the kid is implying that the old man is as good as dead, a suggestion hardly designed to warm parental hearts.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Anyway, the kid gets his money, spends the lot and finally heads for home only to find his dad running to meet him. It’s the running that gets me: no self-respecting land owner would do that, not in a month of Sabbaths.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The point, dear reader, is this: with all the shenanigans about inheritances, running fathers and, eventually a banquet, we are now confronted with a different way of relating – the Kingdom way, the relationship way – a way that is contrary to and way beyond the legal logic of the world you and I usually inhabit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then there’s the kid himself. I’ve spent enough time around teenagers and young people to know when there’s a rat out there that’s on the nose. Honestly, do you reckon the kid was fair dinkum about his repentance? “When he came to his senses …” ain’t a story-tellers phrase, not if he wants to be honest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">At best, it’s a circumlocution, you know, one of those smart-alecky ways we have of saying something when, really, we aren’t saying anything. The kid doesn’t seem to be sorry. He only seems to be worried that his dad’s servants are better off than he is. Some repentance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">You know, we can get ourselves into a box by insisting that words get spoken out when, I reckon, the Big Fella is just – if not more – overjoyed just to have us come home. I wonder what our church life would look like then?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The other player in this Parable is the elder brother. Sure, he’s right – about himself, his wastrel brother and his ridiculously forgiving father but, then, Big Brothers can be a bit like that, can’t we? Always right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Being more right than righteous often puts us in a place that is far removed from where we’d rather be. Sometimes being right, at the expense of being in a relationship, often sends us to a far country that is far more isolated and unforgiving than the one we left.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The father doesn’t cast the elder son away. The parable will not allow one child to be accepted and another rejected. The father calls the elder son "son" and confirms his standing within the family. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-top: 4.8pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Both sons misunderstand the nature of grace. The younger seeks to manipulate, while the elder cannot let go of sacred cows of laws and grudges. Yet both are welcomed home, regardless. That’s grace and it calls us to reassess our own standards and the basis of our relationship to God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-22525842444287824412013-02-27T21:05:00.001-08:002013-02-27T21:05:32.705-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Why a Chook? – Luke 13.31-35<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Our Bishop, with a party of twenty-something others, are currently hooning around Jerusalem and its environs taking in the sights, tasting the food and soaking up the culture of that most ancient locality. OK, maybe not hooning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I don’t suppose that this, or any other, party of pilgrims will be found doing what The Bloke did in his day – and by that I don’t mean perform miracles or walk on water.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">When we meet The Bloke in today’s Gospel Reading, he’s in the middle of speaking a Lament – one of two in Luke – over the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Holy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>. A Lament is a prayer for help that comes out of the pain of what’s happened/ing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What’s happening there is obvious: first, there’s the underlying pain that The Bloke is going to be killed in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city></st1:place> and the Pharisees (yes, some were among his buddies) have come to warn him that The Old Fox is scheming for his demise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then there’s the pain The Bloke is carrying about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city></st1:place> itself. The Bloke speaks out of his pain over a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Holy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> that has rejected his offer of comfort and protection. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Pain and suffering are universal. Each of us can recall many of our own painful experiences, even as we read these words. The question is, though: what do we do with the pain and those recollections? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Today’s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Reading</st1:city></st1:place> provides a clue. What did The Bloke do? Well, first he found a chook, a kind of heavenly visual aid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Why a chook? Of all the animals written about in The Good Book, he had to pick a chook. With no other reference to hens anywhere else in the whole Bible, I find this both amazing and quite interesting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">He could have picked any of the 138 animals listed there – a lion, a bear or even an ape would do – but, without any precedence, he chose the chook; a choice hardly selected to inspire confidence, unless you’re a chicken, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Yet we can see where The Bloke’s coming from. His choice is pretty typical: turning expectations on their ear by giving out the prizes to losers, children and peasant and relegating scholars and rulers to the bottom of the pile. So much for my Grad. Dip.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Naturally, he chooses the chook. He will always choose the chook, about as far removed from foxes as you can get. Would he have done different? Nah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As always, he gives us options: we can spend our time going around looking for chickens to eat or we can lose our life protecting them. That’s the options.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">One thing’s for sure, as theologian Barbara Brown Taylor reminded me in an article she wrote for <i>The Christian Century</i>, The Bloke won’t be The Top Fox in this or any other story. (She used different, theologian words, naturally.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">He’s going to be Mother Hen, putting his Body on the line between his brood and the assailant(s) who have schemed to inflict harm and to bring lots of collateral damage with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">She got no fangs, no claws to speak of, no Stallone biceps. All she got is a heart and a body that’ll shield her littlies: if The Fox wants them, he’ll have to take her first which, of course, is what he did. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">While everyone was asleep, he crept in. She wakes, cries out. The chickens scatter and she dies – wings spread-eagled, breast exposed, defiant, victorious.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There’s not a mother alive who wouldn’t do the same, be it chook, dog or human. Yet it can be a tragic tale if it wasn’t for the idea of hope. Without that, we have nothing and it’s there that Laments come into their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The Lament is a powerful tool for restoration and renewal. It’s a matter of banging away at this for our proclamation of the Resurrection doesn’t obliterate the reality of the Crucifixion or the Burial. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We don’t take the figure of Christ off the Cross, or hide it behind a banner or in a cupboard, as some have done. We daren’t jump too quickly to resurrection, skipping over the Lament.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Perhaps we are discovering a different aspect to Lent, one that addresses both national and personal trauma through the practice of Lamentation, a prayer that comes out of pain and brings healing with it. Now, that’s hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-67668322946394898422013-02-07T18:41:00.001-08:002013-02-07T18:41:22.691-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Silence – Luke 9.28-36<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">They’ve built a church there, of course, a huge and ornate structure set on a mountain and filled with glorious art work. At least that’s what the pictures show. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s visited each year by thousands of onlookers, many hoping that a bit of the glory might fall on them. Even a small cloud would be enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It seems that Peter got his own way, even though there’s only one booth, not three. My crazy mind asks “Who missed out? Moses? Elijah? Jesus? Maybe all three?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Let’s not be too hard on Pete, though: if the truth be known, we’re all a bit that way inclined. We all like our hammers, hanging on to them for dear life with our memories of glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We all know what it’s like to be an onlooker, gawking, helpfully offering to do unhelpful things. “Er, um … here, look, I’ve got a hammer, let me use it, let me nail this moment down.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We God-botherers do it all the time, creating space where people can somehow enter the glory. We’ve studied the Word, you know. We know, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We’ve designed the Pew Bulletins and written the sermons. We know. We’ve done the study, got the degree. We know. Our hammers are word-shaped: words, words and more words. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s tough talk to encourage preachers to not use these hammers, and yet – apart from Pete’s blurt – that’s what happened: “And they kept silent …”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">If the experience of glory only leads us to keep silence, why speak? Why write? What is there to say?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s a great paradox. On the one hand there’s the reality of The Presence, drawing us to a face so radiant and clothing so bright that our Ray-bans are useless, a Presence that so many of us long for, sing about, anticipate just the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not unlike remaining in the movie theatre to watch the credits roll, not being quite ready to make the transition from what we’ve just seen into the chaotic world outside. <i>“It’s good for us to be here.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">One of those emails that regularly appear in my Inbox said it better: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The other side of the paradox is the demise of The Transfigured One, told with poignant alacrity. It is well to note that the distance from Mt Tabor to <st1:place w:st="on">Golgotha</st1:place> is not so great that we should lose sight of either.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The point is that glorifying God always leads to sacrifice. As if on cue, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Reading</st1:city></st1:place> for today is followed by the clamour and chaos of a shrieking, convulsive boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Coming off the mountain introduces us to the accompanying valleys of sorrow, despair and illness. We are led minister in that mess all and every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Before that, though, The Big Fella directs us to listen, an action that requires us to be silent, not just from words, but also from the noisesome pestilence of our inner desires and intentions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">That there are paths from the mountains to the valleys may be obvious and, to be fair, expected. What isn’t clear is their location: these paths are very difficult to find.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Listening becomes an overture to the symphony of following and doing but it is a key. Get this one right and the rest follows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">While the space between Sunday and Monday maybe sometimes huge, the ever-present danger is to stay behind and to get lost in the clouds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-18854949947232668392013-01-30T21:17:00.001-08:002013-01-30T21:17:36.581-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Questions and Promises – Luke 4.21-42<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s hard enough just visiting one’s home town without having the difficulty of taking a service in the church you grew up in or wearing the embarrassment of preaching a sermon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The closest I’ve ever come to doing any of that was to give the eulogy at my Dad’s funeral. The Requiem and all the other bits were done by the Rector.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There is a case to be made for not playing the <i>Hometown Boy/Girl Made Good</i> part. Just allow the one who has the job to do the job.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">However, it did strike me the other day that we clergy actually have our own version of <i>Hometown Boy/Girl</i> whenever we take services and/or preach in a parish we’ve previously worked in. I suspect it happens quite often.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">No matter how much people remember about us, foibles and misadventures are always overlooked; we are still treated like family; the congregation is still pleased to see us and proud that they’ve had some input into who we are today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“Why, he was just the son of a humble carpenter when he left us. Now look at him. Born to it, he is. I always knew he was special.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">So, what went wrong? How could a homecoming turn so ugly? One minute people are amazed at his gracious words; next, he’s criticising them by assuming what they’re thinking: “No doubt you’ll quote the proverb …” That’s always a good place to start a blue.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s his fault really. He’s probably offended that they’re surprised at how well he’s done. And he’s turned around the warm-fuzzy they gave him about his genealogy and turned it into a challenge: “Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Perhaps he’s just sceptical about every attempt they’re making to be nice. Perhaps he feels he can’t trust them. Perhaps he’s just having a bad hair day. We’ll never know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What we find out is this: his listeners might have reckoned that they knew him – and they may well have, at least to a point – but he knew them better.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For starters, he’s talking globally, not locally. He’s declaring something about God’s concern and love for <i>all</i> people, not just for the mob who are standing in front of him; his friends, neighbours and the kids he went to school with. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">His use of the Isaiah quote (we heard/read it last week) is as important for what he doesn’t read as it is for what he does. He doesn’t read the nationalistic bit about crushing <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s enemies, for example. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">He only reads about God having a special focus on the poor. There’s an important difference right there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For this global view to become real, he’s saying that there’s going to have to be some changes. Just doing the logic will show that if God is to raise the lowly, then the powerful will be brought down. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Simple maths tells us that, in order for the poor to be fed, the rich are going to have to go away empty. The pie is only so big.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">No, this speech isn’t about who’s The Favourite. It isn’t about The Big Man, who s/he is or where s/he comes from. It’s about change and the challenge this brings to the gatekeepers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The sadness is, as we watch Luke unfold his Gospel, that it’s the messengers, the ones who have the vision, the dream, who pay the price, often at the hands of the gatekeepers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The only thing that keeps our heads above water is to keep looking to him, the only one who God raised from the dead. The rest have gone the way of all flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">But he’s still out there, bringing forgiveness and grace – passionately and relentlessly – to all of God’s people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We can start this new life by giving up the pretence of being perfect, of having it all together, of being able to make it on our own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It ain’t easy, as I keep saying, because making a promise and then doing it can be really tough. The promise is that God will fulfil his word and, really, that ought to be enough to propel us all into a life of service, purpose and meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-80132434036238192122013-01-24T17:54:00.001-08:002013-01-24T17:54:53.339-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Grace – Luke 4.14-21<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Once upon a time, I had the world at my feet, my shoulder to the wheel and my eye on the prize. As a result, I now have constant leg cramps, rotor-cuff damage and myopia (short-sightedness).<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In those days, I had no money, no wife on my arm and no job to go to. Now look at me. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The condition in which I once wallowed highlighted just how individualistic our world was back then. My guess is that nothing has changed in the meantime. That’s sad because it’s still all about me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Church stuff just adds to the sadness. Right at the point where salvation came to my precious soul, right there at that sweet spot where amazing grace became a reality, we have persisted in the belief – and dare I say, the practice – that this saving grace has been brought on by some decision or action on our part.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In a world that has taught me to believe that life is all about No1, my actions, my strategies, my plans and my decisions, it’s confronting to discover that things aren’t like that at all if we’re serious about our faith-life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In that setting, there’s nothing I can do because it’s all been done.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In a lot of ways, it would have been easier if we stopped reading at bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and setting the captives free. At least there’s plenty of action in that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This part of the Gospel Reading today is the classic passage for every Liberation Theologian, every Evangelist and every preacher who can say “Jesus” in three syllables. It’s The Bloke’s Manifesto, his Inaugural. First words are important.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In a remarkably short sermon in which he uses only nine words, one of which is ‘fulfilled’, The Bloke lays down what he’s really on about. We modern day preachers could learn a valuable lesson here about the length of our sermons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">When something is ‘fulfilled’ – as in <i>“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”</i> – then that’s what it means: something that’s crammed full to the brim. It’s complete accomplishment. It’s something where there’s no space for me to do anything. And, frankly, it drives me nuts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What does it mean that this scripture has been filled up and by whom is it filled? What does the promise mean for the poor, imprisoned, blind, and oppressed? Should it be limited to just those people? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What about the abused, the addicted, the put-down? What about them? And what does it mean for those who don’t suffer such difficulties? Are they to be left out? If not, is there another level of meaning here that I’ve overlooked?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There’s no easy answer to these conundrums (or is it ‘conundra’?) except that it doesn’t mean ‘no compassion’. What it does mean is that there are to be no whimsical feelings without my presence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It doesn’t mean there’s to be no activity. What it does mean is that there’s to be no planting of a culture in someone else’s, something for which we in the west have been famous and for which the costs are just beginning to be counted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The long and short of grace, for that’s what all this is about, is for us to realise and recognise and accept that The Bloke who read the scroll in the first place is fully aware of what he’s doing and saying and that we will too when and if we but stay close by him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I guess that’s why we call it “Amazing”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-12947761595971154762013-01-16T20:27:00.001-08:002013-01-16T20:27:54.450-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">Reflections
from The Hill – Wine and Time – John 2.1-11<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s been said that while I
mightn’t have learned a lot of theology in the seminary, I did graduate with a
prodigious knowledge of red wine. I dispute that, of course: it took me another
4 years just to pass my final exam. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">My tutors each said, in an attempt
to pacify me: “That’s OK; you’re just a late bloomer. Your time will
come.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I’m not often likened to the
Messiah but, honestly, it’s not difficult to miss the connection. Either that or
I’m sillier than I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Stories about grog being in short
supply at weddings abound, at least in the community, where turning water into
grappa – and walking on water – is part of the vernacular. While I might wonder
about the truthfulness of such accounts, it’d be fair to say that there’s a fair
bit of hyperbole at play here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Truth is, most of the stories I’ve
heard about weddings are about the <i><span style="font-style: italic;">quantities</span></i> of alcohol that get consumed by
the guests. (By far the best is the one about the mob who drank 21 bottles of
cognac in one sitting. Even Napoleon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Spare a thought for the
wait-staff, though, those who had to clean up the empties and vacuum up the
crumbs under the tables and dispatch the linen to the laundry. Spare a thought
for those who were privy to what was a miracle of abundance, who actually saw it
with their peepers, and probably didn’t even get as much as a
sip.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Can you imagine the story that was
told by the servants in their living rooms when they got home after work? Can
you imagine the dawning understanding that they, unseen by most, were/are the
ones for whom God’s abundance was especially meant?
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Can you imagine that it was in the
simple act of rescuing the reputation of the host of a wedding that the world
itself was about to change, if only you had eyes to see? John is trumpeting it
for us in today’s Gospel: this is just the first
sign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Knowing just this much makes a
huge difference. Mary testifies to that simplicity: every moment we live in
Jesus, she says, has the capacity to tell us something about The Big Fella.
Bread, wine, water, even a hug – given at the right time – can convey something
spectacularly supernatural.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s a curious thing, then, that
the world seems to be drowning in a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">sea</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Seiko</st1:placename></st1:place> and Citizen yet people never seem to
have enough time. We might have lots of watches but time is of the
essence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s the thing, when Jesus turns
up, it’s always at the right time. However, what we’ve done is teach our young
that time equals 5pm on a Friday, after which it’s our own; or it’s 8am on a
Monday and it’s time to begin sorting through those invoices again. Everything
between those two points is off-limits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There is a time like this, make no
mistake: a time that gets measured in minutes and seconds, weeks, months and
years. It’s the sort of time that gets spent in lines at the supermarket or
while idling the car at the stoplight. It’s the kind that relentlessly beats
until our eyes close and there is no more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Somewhere deep down, however, is
another sort of time, the kind that displaces predictability with possibility.
This is the sort that The Bloke talks about when he says that his hour hasn’t
come yet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Through and in the ordinariness of
a wedding (and all that entails, as we have read), we hear The Bloke talking,
not about dates on calendars, but about The Big Fella revealing something
special. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We see him showing the wedding
guests, in the utter ordinariness of it all, something about the way The Big
Fella will be understood in future: through ordinary things like water and wine,
crosses and death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Whatever time we might think it
is, it is also God’s time. When The Bloke turns up, so does The Big Fella –
accessible and available to everyone. That’s the time when everything becomes
possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-69788060096977661482013-01-09T21:19:00.001-08:002013-01-09T21:19:36.080-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – The Call – Luke 3:15-22<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In just about any parish anywhere, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">hardly a month goes past where there isn’t a titanic struggle over the question of baptism. It generally starts with a phone call, proceeds to a meeting (or even a series of them), gets followed up by an arrangement about dates and times and finishes with The Show itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The warfare, generally, isn’t fought between the parties, although I’ve witnessed some humdingers of those. This battle takes place between the ears of the clergyperson who’s been given the job of doing The Show and it’s been known to have a debilitating effect on the inner peace of the said Sky Pilot.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is due, in part, to the Clergyperson’s superior knowledge about the context of The Bloke’s own Baptism and what followed. S/he knows, for example, that his baptism wasn’t about candles, white robes and parties but about struggles in the wilderness with demons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That warfare is taking place because the danger these demons pose and the connection this has with a person’s journey of the spirit has been swamped by the ritual razzmatazz of getting the kid done.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My guess, for what it’s worth, is that the first bit of that last sentence doesn’t rate a mention in too many Baptism Classes these days. More’s the pity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mind you, it wasn’t the case when I was at The Coalface, either; I’ve always found it easier to go along with organizing The Show than to introduce folk to demons who can turn rocks into bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All this raises the question about the reason for baptism. The Bloke’s baptism, for example, is about his identity (<i>read: vocation or calling)</i>: “You are my Son, my Beloved”, words coming to him in the intimacy of prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From what I can read, there may not have been a whole bunch of eavesdroppers there, either, so it was for his ears only, a really personal encounter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There’s still a lot of stuff to happen in Jesus’ life. Whatever else there might be, there’s the life-long drama of him living out his identity (<i>read: vocation or calling)</i> and meeting the great expectations that get laid upon him as he goes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Maybe it’s worth pointing out that The Bloke’s calling <i>(read: vocation or identity)</i> isn’t about his job or his career; it’s not about a challenge to mission, that he should get out and talk up the Kingdom. Not yet anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Baptism is first and foremost the delight that The Big Fella has in his beloved, this chosen one, this child. It’s not a call to do stuff but a call to be something, not an activism but a vocation that names.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As with him, so with us: our first calling, our baptism <i>(read: vocation)</i> is one that simply loves and names us: <i>“You are my child. I am well pleased with you.”</i> This is where it begins and – let’s be bold to claim – it’s where it finishes, in the arms of the One Who Holds our Future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Between the one and the other, between the beginning and the end, this identity <i>(read: vocation or call)</i> will sometimes morph into action. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The old books call it mission and ministry but there are other things here as well, not the least of which is learning how to wrestle with demons and to be waited on by wild beasts. As I say, it ain’t an easy road.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We learn very early in life to tell when it’s our mum’s voice calling us for meals or the chores or our homework. There’d be demons there if we didn’t hear. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Then it became the voice of parents, teachers and others calling us, shaping our lives in some way or another. There might be dragons there, too, for many vocations <i>(read: call or identity) </i>were initially wrapped in the voice of someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Not all of those voices were the Voice of God and not all of them had to do with our journey. That’s why we need discernment. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, I believe it’s a blessing to thank God for the joy of purpose in our lives and for the times when the call to something specific was, and still is for some, crystal clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even when that Voice is muffled and our responses almost beyond our abilities to perform them, it’s good to remember that the calling <i>(read: vocation or identity)</i> that actually matters comes first and will continue right to The End.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tasks, activities and duties matter – of course they do – but what lasts, what abides – our calling <i>(read: vocation or identity)</i>, our belonging and our future – is heard right there by the waters: “You are my child, beloved and delight.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-56239297751418337982012-12-19T20:34:00.001-08:002012-12-19T20:34:01.772-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – A Song to Change the World – Luke 1.39-45<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Once upon a time in a faraway land, a young bloke from Dagenham (East London), who wasn’t Mike but Danny, was in big trouble: ‘e was lookin’ for someone to be his cheese (wife). <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Because ‘e ‘ad two ov ‘em on a string, he needed to some divine intervention and make a decision, so ‘e wen’ up to ve church to find out from the Big Guy ‘oo it was gunna be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The choice was ‘ard: Maria was a lovely lass with dark hair and big shiny eyes and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Lorraine</st1:state></st1:place> was a pert little blond wif a smile that’d knock ya teef art. The thought of makin’ a choice kept poor Danny awake at night. It was real ‘ard.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">By luck ‘e survived an’ farned ‘isself in a church. It must’ve been a Roman Caflick Church ‘e went to because as soon as ‘e walked froo d’ door, ‘e knoo what ve answer was because vere, written in big letters ri’e over ve ortar were ve words <i>Ave Maria</i>. Danny and his Maria lived happily ever after.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For centuries, the words <i>Ave Maria</i> have brought peace to countless thousands of people, even if they aren’t or weren’t religious. They’ve honoured the gentleness of tender-hearted motherhood. They’ve brought tears of joy and inspired singers and musicians with their comfort.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">These words (they’re actually the Latin version of a Hebrew greeting) are part of an interchange between Gabriel and the young Mary regarding her life, now and in the future. Her response to the angelic declaration was to sing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In difficult times, when school shootings, financial crises, increasing violence and crime threaten to take their voice away, humans often turn to singing. It is a powerful thing to do under duress.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In the Gospel Reading today, our church is reminding us of the power of song. And not just any song like “My Favourite Things” but a song of both lament and praise, of promise and defiance, a song into which that first singer entered and now calls on us to join.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">That song, Mary’s Song, the Magnificat, is an invitation for us to enter the promises to which she gives voice: the promise that God will lift up the lonely, the down-trodden and oppressed, not simply those of her day but of ours as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This week, let’s note that all the verbs Mary uses are in the past tense, indicating a relationship between her and her God, one into which she has already been drawn; a song to One who has been siding with the oppressed and who has been making and keeping promises since about Day 6. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As the words of this mighty song come to life for us in worship, in prayer, or simply in quiet reflection, we’ll find we are being drawn into taking them up on behalf of those whose loved ones won’t be coming home from school or hospital on this or any other day; on behalf of all who mourn, or who are lonely, or who don’t have enough food, or who struggle with mental illness, or so much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Mary’s song just doesn’t name these things; it gets us to sing them. It gets us to sing about a reality and an experience that is, at once, as profound as it is simple: that God’s promise is to change the world. In singing this – either aloud or in the deeper recesses of our spirit – we actually get to be part of that work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Maybe it’s enough just to taste the words that encourage us to do good to the poor and weak. There’s no sin in that. But maybe there’s a bigger picture out there, a picture whose panorama stretches from Adam, Abraham and Moses through Mary and on to us, encompassing a company of saints who are to raise their voices in hope as they wait for the Lord’s comfort and peace to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We might think that our voices are husky, or out of tune or so quiet that they’re next to useless, but there’s strength in numbers. We are the body of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As we join together and sing, we’ll discover that we get stronger and that we begin to enter the oft-spoken but rarely lived reality of faith, courage and love. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">No longer is it me against the world but together we’re witnesses of and participants in The Big Fella’s promise to change the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-45564927281709823372012-12-12T21:33:00.001-08:002012-12-12T21:33:34.518-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – Luke 3.7-18 - Waiting<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This year, 2012, has become something of a watershed year for me, not because I celebrated a momentous birthday (I didn’t) or because I don’t move across the ground as fast as I once did (I don’t). No, it was none of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The watershed is centred on the loss of what, for me, is the connection between God and the rest of society. Maybe T.S. Eliot was onto something when, in 1934, he wrote that ‘…The church does not seem to be wanted/In country or in suburb; and in the town/Only for important weddings’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I think I’m still reeling from the awareness of an almost complete absence of Christmas paraphernalia like cribs, angels, shepherds and the like in our shops and halls of commerce. In homes, yes; in churches, no doubt, but at the shop? Nah. The time, it seems, has finally come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">To think that I am not wanted, or the group that I’ve become attached to is not wanted in the community ‘except for important weddings’ is enough to send me into a Decline from which I struggle to extricate myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not just about Christmas is it? Eliot was taking a broadside at something more general than simply the Christmas season. He was addressing a whole-of-life decline, from X-mas and Jesus-is-The-Reason-for-The-Season to Happy Days and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Who really cares about Advent or Easter or Whitsunday or Epiphany or Saints Days except some we call Christians and not even all of them?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">To deal with this broadside, we do all kinds of spiritual tumble-turns just to appeal to the community from what remains of their Christian collective memory. Some of these appeals deserve a place in the Ship of Fools website (check it out -(<a href="http://www.ship-of-fools.com/" title="http://www.ship-of-fools.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.ship-of-fools.com</span></a>). Some have done so already, some of them not.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">So we come to Advent. I can put up with the 24 Day Advent Calendar (or is it 26?) where each day proffers a new treat, a chocolate or a whiz-bang thingummy. I can enjoy Christingle. I can even handle the 12 Days of Christmas Street Art website, even when they’re only offering 11.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What I find a bit awkward, though, is finding either no understanding of Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, as I did recently, or experiencing an exercise in what is called the ‘modern Advent’ of Hope, Peace, Love and Joy, complete with mauve and pink candles and an Advent wreath.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Leaving aside the candles, the four modern themes are important but to use them as an excuse for not raising the topics of the Other Four is a lame one, especially when we’re doing it because we believe these Other Four are too tough a call for modern wo/man to hear about. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What do we do? Retreat into our funk-holes and throw up walls that will keep us safe and everyone else outside? Probably not but it’s a tricky one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I can put up with the offences that come my way simply because I live in a post-Christian community. I shouldn’t expect any concessions from our secular leaders, whether it’s Christmas stuff in our shops, RE in schools or discounts because I work for the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I haven’t been invited to a Mayor’s Civic <st1:personname w:st="on">Reception</st1:personname> for decades, which is not a bad thing. I’m told I’m not missing much. However, if for some reason these things come my way, things like access to schools or invitations to a mayoral knees-up, well and good, but I don’t seek them out as a matter of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The question still remains: What should we do? In today’s Gospel, the crowds asked John and John obliges with some specifics: check out your wardrobe and the people who come to your place for dinner; check out your bank account(s) and the people you pass on the street; check out God’s call on your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s a clue: even if we don’t do anything about the answers John gives, the question is a good one. Simply by asking it, we are not only letting God inside to where his Good News lives, we are continuing the whole idea of Advent: waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Losing hair or sleep or watching my blood pressure rise because it ain’t what it used to be is never an option. It’s not about being wanted. It’s about waiting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Getting stroppy because these or those Christians do Advent differently isn’t where it’s at, either. It’s not about being wanted. It’s about waiting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I often wonder how I made it this far. Maybe I’ll hang about and wait next year, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-63122602033170987942012-12-06T21:37:00.001-08:002012-12-06T21:37:25.322-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">Reflections from The Hill – Luke 3.1-6 – Inns & Outsiders<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">An old theatre, full of badly upholstered seats, dust and the smell of generations of sweaty North Queenslanders is not the sort of place you’d expect to get a fright.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It was only when the house lights were replaced by the dim glow of the EXIT signs and the last of the conversations had ebbed away that I began to be filled with anticipation. Like everyone else, my focus was towards the stage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then a single spotlight shone over our heads like a bolt of lightening and a voice from outside, from the darkness at the rear, pierced the fetid air: ‘Pre-e-e-pare ye the way of the Lord’ it sang. Loud. Clear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We were forced to sit upright. Our eyes and ears were straining backwards. Our heart speed tripled. These physical things were still to catch up with our emotions. Raw. Shock. Fear. We knew we were in for the ride of our life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In this place, at least, there were none that we could recognise as being special: community leaders, knights of the realm (when we still had a few), medicos, the odd sky-pilot, you know. We’d all paid our money and we were all together. Leaderless.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As it was in the theatre, so it is in today’s Gospel. The word came from outside, bypassed all the powerful ones – the Herods, the Caesars, the Pilates, the Lysanias’, the sites of power and influence – and came right here, bypassing the antiseptic surrounds of a home to arrive in a shed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s the way it is in Luke. Ch 1 of the Gospel is set ‘in the days of King Herod …’ and tells us about the birth of John the Baptist. In Ch 2 the setting is ‘… in the days of the Emperor Augustus …’ and that other guy, Quirinius, and tells us about Jesus’ birth. Now, in Chapter 3, Luke sets the story in more history ‘…in the fifteenth year …’ and gives us John’s message. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Three times Luke has bypassed the toffs and nobs of the world. Three times Luke has chosen to place these events – at one level, about as small and insignificant as one can imagine – right alongside the movers and shakers of the day. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Three times Luke has illustrated that God’s mercy comes from outside the usual places disguised as human weakness; it bypasses everyone we’d normally expect to be there and, along the way, it introduces us to a couple of young blokes who will grow up to change the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For Luke, small is beautiful, especially when it can grow bigger. There’s something later on in Luke about mustard seeds, so I’m beginning to think that it’s a bit of a theme in his writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Whatever else you can say, though, it’s a change of focus. This God-word came to a no-body called John, in a no-where place called the wilderness and, yet, this small and insignificant thing is more important than all the important people and events of the day. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It is still the same. Not just to the nobodies gathered in a dilapidated theatre in tropical NQ during the flower-power revolution but to the nobodies in our congregations and in the no-where places of our unremarkable suburbs and communities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There’s more. If something is <i><span style="font-style: italic;">coming to</span></i>, chances are it’s also <i><span style="font-style: italic;">coming against,</span></i> against the political, religious and economic principalities and powers of the Emperors, Rulers, Governors and High Priests of our day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Against these powers of empire stands an odd little guy called John and his somewhat more respectable cousin Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Against these powers of empire stands a word that promises to fill valleys, level mountains, straighten crooked paths and smooth out the rough bits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Despite that, as Fr Thomas Merton* reminds us in <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Raids of the Unspeakable</span></i>, there is still no room for the Good News: we are being drowned out by the noise of our obsessions with technology, with what the Government is doing with our taxes while, all the time, being drugged by entertainment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Some things don’t change: those who are outside the Inns of power still can’t find any room inside. It’s no mistake that Luke is making the point that the Good News is for the drowned-out, the crowded-out, the missed-out, the worn-out and the left-out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We can get tired of waiting for the changes to come but even those things that are difficult now will become, like many of the other things, a distant memory, footnotes on a larger story of grace and mercy and life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;">*Thomas Merton, Trappist monk who died in 1968<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-73091523281381300442012-11-21T21:34:00.001-08:002012-11-21T21:34:46.505-08:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – More – John 18.33-37<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In some parts of the world, the Christmas season begins on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November, a fairly complex formula, not unlike some Church Notices. Because this day is always a Friday, it’s called “Black Friday”. I’m told it’s the day when the real business of Christmas – shopping – commences. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Now, look, I know you’re thinking that I’ve really lost the plot and that all that time away from my desk has done me no good. Maybe you’re right, but I’m here to tell you that somewhere in our life hides a gremlin, a gremlin called ‘More’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">More is the one who has convinced us that if we don’t spend up on things – usually things that no-one else seems to want – then Christmas isn’t, well, Christmas. (Just as aside, My Beloved and I give Gift Cards these days. It’s our way of being relieved of at least one layer of guilt.) <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The overall effect of this gremlin’s work is that Advent has disappeared, except in the minds of a few religious and/or musical aficionados, and Christmas has degenerated into a spending spree where one can’t buy a Mary, Joseph & the Baby, even for ready money. Knickers and jewellery are another story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We’d like, nay, love to be able to be counter-cultural and not cave in to the Shop-Till-You-Drop Syndrome. Yet More is such a powerful gremlin that we find it almost impossible to walk away. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Many of us are sickened by the commercialisation of Christmas, probably most of this readership. The paradox is that, somehow, we still seem to get caught up in its clutches. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We are so captivated by the notion that <i>things</i> really do make us happy that we either want More or get angry that we can’t. It’s a bit like playing with a Rubik’s Cube: there’s no solution for us mortals. There are some, however, who do have the information but they’re not telling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Then there’s the surprise waiting for us in the Gospel today. That surprise is that, for the past few weeks, we’ve been walking the road to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city></st1:place> with Mark and, all of a sudden, we get catapulted into The Man’s Trial before Pilate, stuff that usually belongs to Holy Week. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s an interesting shift because what we read about is a pathetic Pilate caught in the vortex of indecision, between expediency and being right; not being able to make up his mind but scurrying backwards and forwards seven times between the Accusers and the Accused. (There’s a sermon right there for those who are into the subject of numbers in John, by the way.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Faced with the dilemma, Pilate caves in to the pressure, chooses the easy option and denies the truth that’s staring him in the face. And that’s not a whole lot different from us being caught in the Shop-As-You-Drop-Syndrome. We’ll take expediency pretty much every time. It’s called ‘keeping everyone happy’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There is a difference, however, between Pilate and us and that’s got to do with how we react to The Man’s Promise. Pilate chose not to listen to him when he said <span style="color: black;">“Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”</span> At the very least, we now have the possibility of being different.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The words of the song “Come to the Father” come to mind<i>: </i></span><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Nothing you can do could make Him love you more and nothing that you've done could make Him close the door. Because of His great love He gave His only Son, everything was done so you would come.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Simple, profound, compelling words, yet so very difficult to hear. The noise from the voices in our culture that scream at us, telling us that our worth comes from our possessions threatens to drown out the simple message that God has already called us worthy. That’s grace. We can so easily be deaf to its call.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s not stockings full of gifts that are the problem. David Lose says that it’s actually the “relentless insecurity that drives us to believe that we don’t have, and are not, enough” that’s where the struggle is. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">We don’t want to have less but we should have more: more peace, more joy, more contentment, a more profound sense of belonging and a clearer idea of just how precious we are to God, the giver of all good things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-82306827397414606172012-10-17T21:48:00.001-07:002012-10-17T21:48:19.398-07:00 <br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – A Slice of the Action. Mark 10:35-45<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">You will never know how I loathed those pick-up footy games we played in the park as children. Waiting to get picked was bad: standing, first on one foot then another, arms folded, head bowed with eyes and heart downcast, knowing that it was useless punching the air to attract attention. Invariably, I was picked last.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Getting the good ones first has been a behaviour for many a century. Think about The Man’s Followers. They’d turned up to play and they thought they were ready but they seemed to have had trouble getting their heads around what the game was. Obviously, suffering and death weren’t on their agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">After all, a piece of real estate next to The Man would be pretty special, wouldn’t it? (We people of the twenty-first century know they really didn’t have a clue about what The Man was talking about. As for the ‘cup of suffering’, well, who knows what they were thinking.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">One thing’s for sure. The Man knew which way was up and, yes, they were going to be given what they desired but it wasn’t going to be quite what they had in mind. There was to be no glory or very much honour for them as it happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Each of us has been there, one way or another. Each of us has experienced being passed over for something, by a parent, a school teacher, a boss, even a friend. It’s easy to identify with what was going on in the minds of the other disciples as they listened to the little chat between the Three Js (James, John and Jesus).<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Were they indignant? The Book says so. Were they miffed and probably jealous? I’d be surprised if they weren’t. Did the emotional temperature rise somewhat? Go figure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’s at this point that The Man, as he has done before, shifts the goal-posts. The real nature of leadership in this outfit, he says, hasn’t anything to do with real estate or who their ancestors were. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In fact, the idea of a servant-leader is quite counter-cultural. Even our European version is only a mild form of the “Big Man” Syndrome beloved by many, so any suggestion that the ‘Big Man’ would be a servant is a scary proposition. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">It’d be enough to keep cardiologists in business for decades, such would be the amount of hypertension.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This model that The Man is espousing is a far cry from what The Team expected. They weren’t expecting to suffer and die but that’s where they were heading. They expected The Man to run with the leadership thing, to be made into Big Men themselves. What they weren’t prepared for was servanthood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">God’s people are not spared the pains of living in a foreign land, in a world not our own. To lead in Jesus’ way, means to follow and serve, and it may even mean to suffer for the sake of the gospel. Discipleship and suffering go together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Unless I’ve missed something, we’re not much into suffering these days. Rather the opposite is true: we all want to live pain-free, happy, lives but, thanks to the magic of television, we can now watch and hear others do it for us and we say “Oh dear.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Of course, we can send money to sponsor a child or to support a missionary without risking sickness or disease or our own safety just by being at home, in our own lounge room. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Of course, we can do what we can to spare our own children hardship and suffering, and can exercise our freedom of choice and do it our way and have it thought of as a Good Thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">What ever happened to The Man’s invitation for us to join the <i>Suffer Club</i>? Isn’t that what he was on about when he talked about a radical discipleship? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Isn’t following him and being part of God’s Reign now opening our selves to the realities of this beautiful, broken world? No one will get out of this life alive; suffering is simply part of the fabric.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Being in the <i>Suffer Club</i> means to discover that there is beauty, joy, and hope in serving others. As we use our membership of that Club and share the suffering of others, we learn what it means to be fully dependent on The Man.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Getting a slice of the action in the <i>Suffer Club</i> means getting in touch with others across time and place who bear the name of Christ. It’s a big club, with a vast table and good company, where there’s always room for one more. Sure beats waiting to get picked.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6310216809324176916.post-46201231559060363662012-10-10T21:53:00.001-07:002012-10-10T21:53:40.888-07:00<h2 align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Reflections from The Hill – A Person Like Us – Mark 10.17-27<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></h2><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There’s a story in the folk-lore of this Diocese about a priest who spent much of his time wandering the streets of his town, saying hello and chatting to those he knew (who were a large number) but saying hello and asking “Which church do you stay away from?” of those he didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As I recall the story, this method of pastoral visitation had some interesting side-effects, not the least of which was a community that had a low view of the church. I’m not sure you could ask the same question with impunity today. You’d probably get a thick lip more likely.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">The action of this well-meaning but inept sky-pilot raises questions of what people should expect from coming to church or, more specifically today, from meeting clergy.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I know why I come to church. I know why I love to preach. I know why I love writing <i><span style="font-style: italic;">Reflections</span></i> each week. All this and more helps me to meet Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I would like to think that this is also true for you. I would like to think that the real reason why you get out of bed on the one day in the week where you could justifiably lie in and read the Sunday papers is that you want to meet Jesus, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">So here we are today reading a story from Mark’s Gospel about a bloke who met Jesus. I have no doubt that he was a real individual but, in the sense that I’ve been talking, he could easily be a representative ‘man’ without detracting from the story. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This man stands in front of Jesus, representing all of us. He wants a serious answer to a serious question about eternity. In his answer, Jesus turns the question into a reminder about discipleship.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Down the sands of time, many others have done the same. Some who were standing there listening to the interchange between Jesus and the man had given up everything and followed Jesus. It wasn’t an easy road for them. Often, it was a perilous road of misunderstandings and risks.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">As they watched and listened, the latest one to meet Jesus was having his turn.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“Yeah, well, I’ve done all that and got the tee-shirt,” the man says. “Haven’t you got anything else? Why do you keep going around the same round-about?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">“Mate, that’s all I’ve got,” said Jesus, “I keep telling you because it’s important. That’s what eternal life’s about: it’s about doing the right thing <i><span style="font-style: italic;">and</span></i> following me. The way to eternity is through discipleship.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Did you get that? In answering his question about eternal life, Jesus invites him to “Come, follow me.” It’s almost left-field stuff, eh.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For the man, the cost was too great; the price was not right. He ‘went away grieving’, slumped shoulders leading his way, his bottom lip so low that it threatened to trip him.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">This <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Reading</st1:city></st1:place> is the only story of someone refusing to follow Jesus in the whole of the New Testament. Think about it: here’s a person-like-us being invited to be a Jesus-follower and, this person-like-us walks off in the opposite direction. It’s newsworthy, if nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">I can understand him. I even have some sympathy for him. And there is a part of me that wants to chase after him, to change the rules to fit his case and make him a new offer. “I didn’t really mean that,” I’d blurt. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Jesus doesn’t do that. He steadfastly stands his ground and watches the man walk off into the sunset. That’d take some, er, guts, I reckon. Right here, Mark reminds us that there are good, understandable and reasonable reasons for <em><i><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">not</span></span></i></em> following Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">How so? It seems to me that Jesus is too often presented as the solution to all our problems. But this Gospel reminds us that Jesus is sometimes only the beginning of a life we would never have had if we had not met Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Sometimes I think we have made discipleship such a small, trivial thing, that it makes <em><i><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">disbelief</span></span></i></em> look dumb. Today, we’re being reminded to fix that and to put it right.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span>Ian McAlisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17769188192821741196noreply@blogger.com0