What Makes A Person A Person?

John 15:9-17

We were standing on the top of a high dam wall outside Inverell. I was there as part of a large military training exercise, providing welfare support to the contingent of soldiers, engineers and other auxiliary staff.  In front of me, a soldier was being placed in a harness ready to abseil down the dam wall which seemed to fall away into oblivion from where we stood. As the soldier started his descent, the Captain in charge of the exercise turned to me and said, “What about you Sir, are you going over?” I could feel every head turn toward me, waiting for my reply. I was twice her age and right then felt way older than that. Going over the wall was the last thing I suspected I would be doing when I rose that morning. I took a deep breath and said, ‘Sure, I’ll go over.’

 

Have you ever had a moment when you agreed to something and immediately regretted it? Well, I did then. I was put in the harness and I crawled over the edge.  Out there it seemed further down than the started 113 metres (371ft) On command I began the most terrifying few minutes of my life to the bottom of the dam wall. When I finally gained the ground I was possessed with a mix of sheer relief for having survived and a sense of achievement to have overcome my fears and stepped out into what seemed impossible only a few minutes before. Although I was quick to say no to going down upside down when they asked me back up on top!

 

It was a thrilling and scary experience I was glad to have done right there in front of the young soldiers. The young Captain gave me a big high five and a grin as wide as the dam wall and after that we were best of friends with her. As a result I was welcomed as one of them by the soldiers who were there and those who heard the story, and let me tell you, every one heard the story.

 

Last Sunday we suggested that Christianity was a progressive religion. In other words, faith is where our journey in Christ begins, and faith is the engine which propels us to grow and become one with God. We never stand still. Faith takes us into places, experiences and relationships we had previously thought unattainable or highly improbable. Faith propels us out into the open, beyond the protection of our fears and need for control. We are opened up to the possibility of God hidden in the ordinary life.

 

John Spong suggests that this passage is about the transformation of the open, not the redemption of the fallen. In this passage we have begun to move beyond our initial experience of God’s saving grace, from the joy of salvation into the joy of being fully alive. No longer are we enslaved to the power of ego, sin, we are opened up to the transforming journey of life lived in relationship with God.

 

Rene Descartes offered one answer to the question of what it means to be human when he wrote: “I think, therefore I am’. Merton, Eckhart and other modern Christian thinkers such as Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis offers an alternative answer, I am in relationship….therefore I am.’ The Zulus of Africa have a concept called Ubuntu: a person is a person through other people. A person is a relational being means, according to Anthony Howard, ‘implies that you become more fully a person – or all that you can be – in relationship with other people’, with the other. We are hard wired to be in relationship with the other.

 

If we are open we step into the very same relationship with God that Jesus had, a relationship in which we move from strangers to friends, from servants to companions, from one who does not know the mind of God to one who is trusted with the bringing in of the kingdom of God. Life takes on a very different complexion when we are opened up, and open our selves up to an intimacy with God we could never have imagined, in fact we may have feared, was possible.

 

Fear closes us down. Faith opens us up. Fear builds walls where there is no need for walls. Faith finds ways to dismantle the very walls our fear constructs. Faith is found and finds its expression in and through love. The love that we receive from God through the human touch of a Christ who fully lives out his humanity, even unto the cross.  His expression of love for God and humanity was such that he placed no limits on how far it would take him. And he went there because he was willing to obey the commandments of God.

 

These were not laws or rules of spiritual purity and righteousness. They were the commandments that come packaged in God’s dream for the world, a dream for world in which love, justice and peace reigns supreme over and above the law of fear. They were the commandments given to those who had stepped into a transformed relationship with God and were counted as friends, not servants, not people who simply did what they were told to without question or thought. Servants are those who do the bidding of someone they fear. They hide behind statements like, ‘I’m just doing my job’, ‘it is legal therefore it must be ok’, ‘I’m just taking orders’. 

 

The history of the world attests to the horror down to others by servants. The holocaust, prison camps, genocides and killing fields of the world speak eloquently to the violence of the servant.

 

Jesus says our faith takes us to a very different place. It takes us into a relationship where we are accepted as friends, a part of an intimate interaction where we know the mind of God and play an active role in the implementation of God’s dream. We are co-creators of the kingdom of God in a way that brings joy and fulfilment, not only to a divine plan but to ourselves.  We become engaged in a project bigger than our ego self and expand to include others in our life and our dreams. We no longer just do what we are told but use our intelligence, initiative and capacity to build love, peace and justice in our world, both in our immediate world and the world outside and beyond our boundaries.

 

John expresses this idea clearly in this passage as he has Jesus explain our journey on three different levels:

 

·      A journey from servants to friends – from law to love

 

·      A journey into friendship by choice, his choice, the providence of God’s grace

 

·      A journey into love and joy, a complete-ing of our true self and of the kingdom of God.

 

Today we have the opportunity to live into the possibility of faith through gratitude to the unfailing goodness of God. God calls us to step beyond our fears and to take the step into responsible faith, responsible for how we value our friendship with God and how we actively live out that friendship in the world around us. Do we do it as servants who simply follow instructions or do open ourselves up to become co-creators with the Trinity of  a just an peaceful world.  The choice is ours and here, today is a good place to start.

 

Amen 

The Emmaus Road Story

Growing up poor in the bush I know about roads. Roads took you to relatives houses, grandma’s piping hot bread and her large feather bed. Roads took you to sport and social activities, often many miles from where you lived. Roads took you on holidays, connecting one caravan park to another, and another.

 

At the same time I knew about walking. Walking around rabbit traps early in the winter mornings, walking barefoot across the 2 1/2 thousand acres following a mob sheep, lost in your own thoughts. Walking toward town when the car was broken hoping someone would pick you up and save your feet. Driving mobs of sheep through the scrub to be shorn.

 

Roads and walking were apart of my early life and both helped form who I became.  Roads were the lifelines and walking the only way to get from one place to the next.  Both allowed you to ruminate on life, the big questions, to day dream and imagine being somewhere else doing something else. I still like to walk and our favourite pastime is going for a drive.

 

On the farm you could easily get lost in your thoughts and almost step on a frill necked lizard just as it reared up to open its frill and its mouth, frightening the life out of you. It was there all the time but you were lost in your own thoughts that you simply didn’t see the obvious.

 

And that’s the Emmaus Road story. Two blokes lost in their own thoughts and conversation. Walking. Talking. Lost in their own troubles and worries. Their world had collapsed with the death of Jesus and they were going home, or at least I think they were. Their heads were down. Their words were low and sad. They probably weren’t even looking at each other. Like characters in a Harold Pinter dialogue they simply spoke out of their own pain without even connecting with the words of the other. It was a monologue delivered by two people who were trying to make sense of what had just happened.

 

No wonder they didn’t see Jesus. It is not that Jesus was mystically hidden from them. They just didn’t look to see who it was. It was just another voice, another person walking with them. As this was not a conversation as such, there was no need to look. Anyway if they did they wouldn’t have seen the obvious because the manner and mode of their walking and talking let no room for Jesus to be alive, let alone to be there. With them.

 

We all know the experience of not seeing the obvious. Our keys are where we left them or our glasses are on our head! It’s obvious to everyone else but us. We have all had the experience of trying to help someone with a major problem, the answer is so obvious but they are so convinced otherwise that it doesn’t matter what we do, they simply can’t see it. You can’t see the sun rising if you are always look to the west.

 

Yet this is where Jesus meets them. On the road. Walking beside them. In the midst of their preoccupation with misery and failure, Jesus comes and begins to converse with them. They stop talking and begin to listen as he talks to them. We know that they were listening, because after Jesus leaves them, they are able to identify that moment on the road when the light began to rise in them. ‘ Did not our hearts…… Something began to happen amongst the dust and the stones, the sun and the breeze. Their minds began to clear and hear. That’s what walking does for you. That’s what the road does for you. As it stretches out ahead of you and you take one step after another, almost without thinking, the worries of the world slip away or at least begin to clarify.

 

Jesus doesn’t avoid the dust and ruts of the road that is our life. Jesus walks with us everyday, the still small voice that speaks to us in then ordinary activities, the day-to-day rituals of modern human existence. Here, the resurrected Christ continues to walk amongst his people just as he had done previously. He steps into the conversation of the retreating disciples and gets his feet dirty. 

 

There is a rhythm to the road. Walking is only one part of the journey. Hospitality is the other. Those of us who have undertaken long journeys on the road know that the time comes to avail yourself of the hospitality of others. A fellow traveller, an inn or hotel, or just a camping ground where you get to rub shoulders and conversation with others – fellow travellers of the road.

 

Sharing a meal with another is a privilege, be it either as the provider of the meal or the one partaking. We were in Ranau in Sabah Borneo. We had come to lay the first stones in a memorial for Australian soldiers who had died there at the end of the Second World War. The village was a very poor. Little work and even less income, yet they offered us a meal after the little ceremony. I prayed over the stones and we walked up to the community hall.

 

It was indeed a feast. The old trestles were creaking with the weight of food we not only could not identify but had no way of pronouncing. The students looked around unsure what to do. All I said was, ‘Eat, it is a privilege to share in their hospitality’. The students did just that, although with some trepidation I have to admit.

 

The walkers ask Jesus in to eat. We are not sure if it was their house or simply some kind of inn. Jesus accepts their generosity and hospitality and sits down to eat. My life is punctuated by great meals, not necessarily by great food. Great food sometimes accompany great meals, but not always. It’s the conversations, stories, transparency and honesty that make a great meal. In Paris I remember sitting in an Indian themed restaurant with a Bulgarian, 2 gypsies, an Italian, another Australian and a couple of Frenchmen enjoying one of the greatest meals of my life. Conversation was limited by the languages spoken and the table etiquette varied from those using cutlery to those eating with their fingers, but it was full of laughter and camaraderie.

 

Jesus sits down at the meal and returns the hospitality by blessing the food and revealing himself to the two travellers. Suddenly in the relaxed environment of the shared table they could see what they missed on the road. Their companion was indeed the risen Christ! It was so obvious. How could they have missed it?

 

They turned around and went back to Jerusalem.

 

Every day the risen Jesus is active in our world and our lives. He is present in our relationships, our encounters, our ordinary experiences. He walks the dusty road of modern life with us. Do we recognise his presence? Do we hear his voice? Or do we become so entrenched in our problems, our tragedies or our preoccupations that we simply do not see or hear him?

 

It is in these ordinary moments that Jesus is revealed and turns us around to continue our journey in his presence. Amen

 

Hanging In There

Living in a world of instant gratification can be challenging for young people, especially when the things they want to happen just don't seem to happen when they should. 'Lord, give me patience and give it to me now!" could very well be theirs, and our, mantra.

Watching the success of Cadel Evans in the Tour de France puts that all in balance. On the podium in Paris he completed a journey that started some 20 years ago, but perhaps in a more focussed sense, after his failure at the Sydney Olympics.

This is no overnight success. It took a long time, it required great commitment and deep self-belief, especially when he came so close a couple of times and suffered injury and disappointment over and over again.

Yet he did not give up. He recognised that life, like grand tour racing is about the journey, not the destination. In this case 21 stages and 3,430.5 kilometres. In his case 20 years of training, training and more training; of falling off and getting back on; of being let down by others and just falling short.

Interesting to note that it was a busted shoulder before the Sydney Olympics which resulted in him turning from mountain biking to road racing. He is now the most complete rider of the modern era having won both the world championships and the most prestigious grand tour.

It is about the journey and about perserverence. Achieving your best will always require hardwork and time. Lfe is indeed a journey, not a destination.

A Welcoming Table

(1 Timothy 1:12-17 - Luke 15:1-10)
Jesus critics commented: ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them”. A criticism that is indeed the highest compliment. Jesus offers hospitality to all, not just those who are deemed respectable by dint of following a set of rules. Jesus does not welcome sinners to be perverse and difficult but because they are the ones who recognise his grace for what it is – unconditional hospitality. Hospitality without limits. No in crowd, no outsiders – no dividing the world into those who are favoured and those who are not.

It is a subtle way of saying to his critics, you are welcome too. A tough call for all who think that they are special, perfect, without need for God’s love and mercy. Those who have material wealth, great talent, who see themselves as being perfect in morals and values are also welcome for those perceptions confirm that they too are sinners.

John Coutis who was born without legs comments that: ‘All people have a disability, it’s just that you can see mine.” He goes on to remind us that our greatest disability is how we think about ourselves, it gets in the way of us fulfilling our potential, or in this case, of accepting the hospitality Jesus offers us.

Jesus holds out his hands, not for our formal handshake but for an embrace. For many of us the intimacy of an embrace is too much and we stand off and extend our hand in a way that says I recognise you but am not quite ready to share my personal space with you. Jesus does more than that. He offers the all-embracing welcome into his life. He touches others even when it makes him ritually unclean.

Gaye tells the story of going to visit a shut-in lady who was almost blind in Glebe in Sydney back when Glebe wasn’t a yuppie suburb. The lady makes a cup of tea and puts out the best china. She pours the tea into the cups, which because of her disability were not very clean. As the tea rose, so did the dust and dirt, right to the top of the cup. What was she to do? Drink the tea despite what it contained or hurt the feelings of this lady who was so excited to have a visitor. Gaye drank the tea.

Hospitality always moves swiftly to sharing the table together, regardless of who is present or what the meal may be like. Jesus makes no exceptions and sits down to eat in the holy ordinariness of the everyday. His table is spread for all and he shares in the table others spread for him.

When we were in Glebe as trainee Salvation Army officers we used to share a meal with the congregation after the Sunday service. This was an odd collection of homeless, mentally ill and poor people. They were responsible for preparing the meal which usually consisted of corn beef, potatoes and cabbage. One day as they were straining the cabbage it fell onto the less than hygienically clean floor. They quickly scooped it up, put in the dish and put it on the table. Some of the trainees complained to the training officer who simply said, “Eat.” We did but not necessarily with gusto. We cannot put limits on who we share our table with. Jesus didn’t and doesn’t.

Paul in his letter to Timothy says, ‘The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the foremost.” Jesus is gracious because he is grace itself. He sees us and all he created as innocent and pure, as worthy of his presence, and he worthy of ours. We may feel we have a long way to go, but for Jesus we are already there.

Pau says that the grace he received was so that Jesus might show utmost patience with him as he remade into the example he was to be to others. Paul echoes’ a thought we shared at morning prayer this week, that each of us lives in this grace because we are not yet finished – God is creating us at this very movement. Chris suggested we wear T shirts with the slogan ‘Be patient with me – I am still under construction”!

I like the Idea that we are people on the move but always a people of the table, the two are unmistakeably linked. It is at table with each other and with the Triune God that we find the grace to become individually and as a community.

It has been suggested that for the Jewish people that the Sabbath meal is defines their faith. One Rabbi suggested that the Sabbath meal is their faith, they are a Sabbath people.

In the same way, as we move toward sharing the Eucharist, are we people of the table. Here we remember the welcome Christ gave us through the cross the ultimate example of hospitality. As we share the body and blood of Christ we are reminded of Christ’s embrace and challenged to show welcome and hospitality to the created world in all its forms.

Come, let’s eat.

Help for the Spiritual Journey

In a recent discussion it was drawn to my attention that people seek assistance to understand and negotiate their lives.  For me that is also true and as a result I have, over a number of years, sought the help of a Spiritual Director as well as practised the Liturgy of the Hours as two tools to assist my spiritual equilibrium.

Some will ask what is spiritual direction?  Spiritual direction occurs when one person dialogues with another for the specific purpose of deepening their spiritual growth.  A spiritual director is the person who supports another to reflect on and in their spiritual journey.  Spiritual direction often takes place as part of a professional relationship, is regular (monthly) and is instigated by the person seeking support.  It is not counselling or pastoral care but is explicitly spiritual and moves along at the pace and initiative of the individual seeking direction.  It is not about finding someone to give you the answers but about finding someone to journey with you.  

Spiritual direction is something I offer as a member of the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction and do so for a number of people.  For those within the St Jude's community this is offered at no cost as  normal part of my ministry.  Please feel free to contact me if you wish to explore this for yourself.

Others will ask what is the Liturgy of the Hours?  For Anglicans it is Morning and Evening Prayer, for others from say the Catholic domain it involves a number of others times of prayer.  Saying Morning and Evening prayer connects us to God and the myriad of other Christians around the world who follow this discipline, it confirms in us that our faith is more than simply a Sunday 'thing' and it gives us a disciplined approach to prayer. The order for such services are to be found in the Prayer Book.  For those who would like a more modern approach I suggest you go to the following link for a number of options.  I find that also helpful - http://www.liturgy.co.nz/virtualchurch/chapel.html