What an alternative!

"Jesus teaches and lives a new way of blessing: for the poor, the humble and defenceless, for peacemakers and the merciful. On this path we learn what it means to love our enemy!

It is this vision that makes Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel so essential and practical. Either we learn to love our neighbour, or we will destroy ourselves.

Some have said that this teaching is too difficult. It is challenging. It may even make us look foolish. You’d have to admit a slaughtered Lamb is not as alluring as the great beasts – any four year old will tell you how fascinating dinosaurs are. But that is the point. The beasts of prey, the empires that spill blood, are dinosaurs; by contrast Jesus offers a role model for a new defenceless future. Can we say that Returned soldiers who know about the blood and tears will recognise the murdered Jesus in their past; and will they also seek to find a way into his future.

This came into sharp focus in the first meeting of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948 – where participants, facing the destruction of the world war declared they we willing to live without the defence of weapons.

This is the contribution Christian faith can make to an Australia that is trying to come to grips with its ANZAC identity. The church has profound gift to offer here: a new imagination that no longer treats war as a necessary burden and a tragic necessity. It offers a liberation that shows up all violence  to be a mistake, a failed experiment.

Grasped by such anew imagination we will have courage and energy to point forward to a new Australia where people ae no longer fearful of people arriving in boats, who dress differently, or are of another faith. Most important, we will be encouraged to engage those who are related to the original inhabitants of this land.  

What an alternative!

Here we may join the great choir of creation to sing together at Jesus’ meal, trusting that his will be the final victory.

As we experiment with this new imagination, let us gather at his table, people of every culture, every colour and creed.

May we be drawn onto the path of those first defenceless disciples, saints, martyrs, learning to trust their non-violent discipleship, and becoming prophets of a world made new; a world inhabited by a community of peace.

And by that, you (!), become a sign of the new future offered by Christ Jesus, the slaughtered Lamb.

And to that, let all say AMEN!. "

Rev Dr Wes Campbell (see sermons page for full sermon)

The feast of all-saints

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-feast-of-all-saints

A litany of all the Saints

A Litany of All the Saints

Holy ones present at our beginnings:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah,
makers of the covenant, forebears of our race:

Stand Here Beside Us!
John and Charles Wesley, preachers in the streets;
all whose power of speaking gave life to the written word:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Louis, king of France; Margaret, queen of Scotland;
Gandhi the mahatma, reproach to the churches;
Dag Hammarskjold the bureaucrat;

all who made governance an act of faith:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Mary Magdalen, anointer of the Lord's feet; Luke the physician;
Francis who kissed the leper; Florence Nightingale;
Albert Schweitzer; all who brought to the sick and suffering the hands of healing:

Stand Here Beside Us!

Holy ones who made the proclaiming of God's love a work of art:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Johann Sebastian Bach; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart;
all who sang the Creator's praises in the language of the soul:

Stand Here Beside Us!

Holy ones haunted by the justice and mercy of God:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Joachim of Fiora, prophet of the new age;
Johnny Appleseed, mad planter of Eden;
Sojourner Truth, pilgrim of justice;
all whose love for God was beyond containment:

Stand Here Beside Us!

Martin Luther King, shot in Memphis:Oscar,  Romero, shot in San Salvador: Janani Luwum, shot in Kampala:

Holy ones of every time and place:

Stand Here Beside Us!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
Jesus our liberator, creator of all:

Stand Here Beside Us!
Jesus our liberator, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end: wisdom, for creativity, for energy and for liberation to new life.

(Prayers are shared or prayed silently)

for all this and for ourselves,

We pray in faith, O God. AMEN

(Source unknown)

A vision of wholeness for the saints

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give away to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

The peace of the Lord to all of you. 

 Judy Chicago (The Dinner Party)
 

All Saints day

Saints are different from people in the world, not because they

do more, but because of whose they are, who they love, and what

it is they strive to do .

Anthony De Mello, the author of several books of meditations - 

tells the story of a family of five that was enjoying a day at

the beach.  The children were swimming and making castles in the

sand when in the distance a little old lady appeared.

     Her grey hair was blowing in the wind and her clothes

     were dirty and ragged.  She was muttering something to

     herself as she picked up things from the beach and put

     them into a bag.

     The parents called the children to their side and told

     them to stay away from the strange looking old lady. 

     As she passed by were they were sitting, bending down

     every now and then and picking up things, she smiled at

     the family.  Her greeting was not returned.

     Some weeks later, while complaining about the weirdos

     to be found on the beaches, the father family learned

     that the little old lady had made it her lifelong

     crusade to pick up bits of glass from the beach so

     children wouldn't cut their feet.

What makes a saint different?

Well saints pick up the glass that others toss down,

they believe in people no one else believes in,

they help others that no one else cares for,

And that, finally, my friends, is what this Sunday is about -

     it is about the one who called to the poor and the hungry,

          to those who wept and mourned,

               to those who were rejected and cursed,

                    and gave to them God's blessing,

the blessing of food, of comfort, laughter, and finally the

blessing of an eternal home with the Father - in that place where

there is no more tears  or sorrow or pain or death anymore.

(source unknown)